Reincarnated Hero System

The magic circle hovering in the sky glowed with a bright blue light, before a huge pillar of blue flames descended from above, crashing down onto the area where the Eighth Finger's body was and causing a large explosion.

However, if that was all the spell did, then it would not be under the class of Tier 3 spells.

Five pillars of blue light surged from five points around the explosion, creating a formation where all 'heat' within the range was absorbed and transferred to the magic circle in the sky.

It then lit up again, with the original pillar of light fizzling out momentarily before all the energy gathered was condensed into a huge orb of blue flames.

"Grind him away."

Ralphie's command activated the magic circle once more, launching dozens of frost fire beams that dealt multiple instances of ice fire damage to everything within a kilometre radius.

"Compressing such a large AOE spell and limiting its effects to a few metres is hard work."

Ralphie spoke as he wiped the little bead of sweat off his brow, about to grab his sword when-

[DON'T GET FULL OUR YOURSELVES!!!!!!]

**BOOOOMMMM!!!!!

A huge pillar of demonic energy erupted into the sky, shattering Ralphie's magic circle and dealing severe backlash damage to the blonde-haired man.

Shockwaves spread out in all directions, knocking both Duke Charles and Evan back, with the latter's body being sent flying for more than a dozen metres.

'Kuro, Kayla!

Come Now!'

He called out his contracted spirits as he flipped in the air and landed on the ground, stabbing his sword into the ground and gazing at the body of the Eighth Finger that was slowly floating up into the air inside the pillar of demonic energy.

His shadow extended and the figures of three beings emerged from within, while the young hero deactivated his Blessing of Destruction and downed an energy potion.

[Master! Is this it?]

"Yes!

It's the final stage of the boss fight, where he sacrifices Zacular and turns the demon's life force into raw power which h-!!!!!!"

Evan's words were cut off as a wave of death energy spread out faster than he could react, phasing through his body and spreading across the battlefield.

"…this is bad, Evan. Very bad.

I don't know exactly what is happening but I can tell it's something we DON'T want happening."

Eliza who had teleported along with Kuro spoke with a trembling voice as she could feel the effect of her Series Skill resonance increasing in efficiency by the second.

[…. Evan, this isn't what you told us would happen. What's going on?]

Duke Charles' voice rang out in Evan's communicator, but the young hero did not have an answer to the man's question.

The reason was simple;

He simply did not know.

What Evan knew about the Eighth Finger came from his in-game knowledge. And after battling against the man multiple times in the game, Evan knew all of his 'forms' and his 'phases'.

However, while the burst of demonic energy was exactly like the beginning of his final phase, what followed next was not something that happened in the game.

A certain being once told a certain goddess, that in the 'future' of Aidos, not everything was guaranteed any more.

And right now, the Eighth Finger wasn't going according to the script!

◇ ◇ ◇

Dominik Velak had a dream.

A dream that he had ever since the day where he lost his parents in a monster attack that ruined his hometown and awakened to Death magic after being left in the midst of the corpses of the adventurers who perished against the monsters.

His dream…was to reach the pinnacle of Death.

To Peruse the Doctrine of Death and understand every single thing about it.

To see it, know what was 'inside' it and completely comprehend it.

The young Dominik glimpsed a tiny fraction of the universal law of death that bound basically all living beings, and the sheer amount of knowledge he 'saw' within it astounded him and left him hungry for more.

He wanted to understand and comprehend this law, and gain the necessary 'Authority' to manipulate it as he saw fit.

His 'Child of Death' was the skill he acquired on this path, and joining the Demonic Hand was only a means to an end for him.

Twenty-five years ago, he met 'Death' at the Hands of the Beast King, however, it was something that happened quite quickly, and he was well aware of the fact that he was not going to remain in that state of being for long, even if the 'First Finger' did not revive him shortly after.

But now, he was faced with the possibility of a slow but permanent death, with his very soul being slowly chipped away at by the essence of destruction contained in each and every one of Evan's attacks.

A death that even his 'true trump card' would be unable to save him from.

A death where his soul would not even pass on into the afterlife, and simply be destroyed completely.

He was faced with 'True Death'.

[NO!]

He could not accept such.

[IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!]

He denied the current reality.

[I CAN NOT FALL HERE!]

He refused to be overcome by this.

[I HAVE NOT YET GAINED CONTROL OVER DEATH ITSELF!!!]

**BOOOOMM!!!!!

His aura surged in response to his will.

A piece of his unique skills full potentials were revealed.

The two 'death' skills were fused and a part of the peak he had hoped to reach was granted to him.

The soul of his contracted demon, Zacular, was completely absorbed by him and used to heal part of the damages that Evan had dealt to his own soul.

His power shot past the intermediate stage of the grandmaster level, breaking into the Superior stage in an instant.

The reduction effects inflicted on his stats were completely removed in this process.

His eyes shot open to reveal his pitch-black sclera and pure white pupils.

[I AM THE CHILD OF DEATH

I AM THE ONE WHO SHALL CONTROL THE CYCLE OF DEATH IN THIS WORLD!!!]

His shredded wings regenerated completely, with his death, darkness, and demonic energies all flaring up wildly.

He then released a small omnidirectional burst of death energy, one that Eliza was barely able to block after using up all but one of her remaining skill charges and all the energy she had left.

However, she had to do so because the death energy Dominik was using, was not just 'death essence' anymore.

If the 'Death Essence' he had been using was just his skill imbuing the characteristics of the worldly law doctrine's power into pure energy, creating a watered-down version of its power, then what he was suing right now was the original form of that.

It was the genuine power of the law of death itself.

Dominik's eyes flashed with a strange light as he gained 'enlightenment'.

His lips parted slightly his voice flowed out calmly.

[Pseudo-Authority of Death.]

The skies around them darkened, black clouds blot out the late afternoon sun, the air trembled and ambient energies ran wild.

Beams of black light descended from above the clouds, crashing on the ground and causing the age progression of everything they touched.

An unfortunate adventurer was hit by one of such beams and the law of death danced around his body, progressing his age as he experienced the vicissitudes of life and death in just a few seconds.

Then…he became dust.

Seeing this, Evan who was attending to the half-conscious Eliza had his eyes go wide as he instantly understood what had happened.

'Fuck…Artemisia! Didn't the archive say only Legendary level existences and above could use the actual powers of law Doctrines?!

How the fuck is he able to do that?!'

|That's not important Evan! You can't let him envelop this entire area with his authority, if that happens then it'd just be like his domain of death all over again, but with more than thrice the power and efficiency.

Eliza just blocked his first attempt to do that but he's going to do it again soon! |

Artemisia was not the only one who understood what had just happened, a certain lightning spirit who was nearby and had a similar power understood just what the Eighth Finger was trying to do, and she had no intention of letting him succeed.

Kayla's golden eyes stared right at the Eighth Finger as she took a deep breath and roused her magic power.

Kuro who was racking his brain to think of a solution sensed this and turned to her with widened eyes.

[Lady Kayla! You can't…not yet!]

He was so startled that he spoke out loud, not even using the telepathic connection between them.

[I have to.

Last time I hesitated against that Demon and master nearly died.

I would not make the same mistake twice.]

The young 'Great Lightning Spirit' spoke with a resolved tone, holding up a clenched fist in front of her chest before muttering two words.

[Spirit Raiment.]

Golden energy exploded from her being as her physical body's size increased exponentially, growing to the stage where she was almost the same height as Evan.

Her clothes changed, and she was now adorned in a bright golden silk dress, having a long black gold stole around her neck and floating lightly in the air.

Floating atop her head, was a fragmented quarter of a cracked golden crown, adorned with various multicoloured precious stones.

She held out her hand in the direction of the shocked Eighth Finger who sensed her burst of power and called out her 'unique' skill's name.

[Pseudo-Authority of Lightning.]

Just above the darkened clouds, ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid-air.

Dozens of lightning bolts rained down, crashing into the beams of black light the Eight Finger was firing and nullifying them completely.

Kayla then snapped her fingers and the rain of lightning stopped, with the orb condensing all its power to release one singular bolt of lightning descended onto the airborne Eighth Finger.

Dominik roused the ambient law energy and used it to create a defensive barrier, just in time to block the sudden attack from the great spirit.

***BOOOMMMM!!!!!

The collision of the two powers resulted in an explosion that sent him tumbling down onto the ground, with the Eighth Finger in a surprising state of relative unharm.

However, the real damage in this case, came from the fact that Kayla's authority…overrode his and forcefully nullified it.

The young spirit had possessed a Pseudo Authority far longer than he had and was far more experienced in using it.

As such, despite the fact that he was stronger than her normally, Kayla's authority which was stronger than his was able to nullify his and cause him backlash, while also preventing him from being able to place the area under his control again.

If he had succeeded, even the Undead Dragon who was battling Luke all the way in the ruins of Paglad would have seen a boost of strength that would make the battle a lot harder for Luke.

Dominik himself would have gained another major power boost that would have caused him to recover a great deal of his exhausted energies.

After achieving this feat, Kayla's body dropped to one knee, breathing heavily as she rose her gaze towards Evan who was staring at her dumbstruck.

The young spirit saw the look of recognition that flashed in his eyes when he looked at the crown floating on her head.

It was only a fragmented piece, but Evan recognized it, and Kayla was well aware that he would.

The young hero wanted to ask her what that was, but when he looked into her eyes, his words got caught in his throat.

He did not need to use the link between them to know exactly what Kayla was trying to tell him with her pleading gaze.

'Please. Don't.'