"I'm talking a lot, aren't I? But you can't bla , I'm very excited to finally speak with you after watching you all this while."
"…"
Evan didn't know where to start getting surprised from; the fact that she was excited to see him, or the part where she casually admitted to having been stalking him for 'a while'.
'I'm genuinely scared to know how long this 'while' really was.'
"I spent a lot of ti over the past year wondering how and why your soul was so unique but I couldn't co to an answer."
Agnes poked a finger in the air and generated a little projection of the Symbol in his eyes as she spoke.
"At first, I questioned if it was because you were a Hero, but I've seen other Heroes as well.
Their Souls weren't Unique like yours and they didn't intrigue so much.
When Abby and I t, I took a good look at her Soul and though it was certainly interesting in 'more ways than one', it wasn't as Unique as yours.
David's soul was strangely lacking magic power, but that wasn't anything too interesting for ."
She looked 'bored' when she spoke about David's soul, and that 'bored' look changed to one of slight 'disgust' when she spoke of a na Evan didn't know.
"Even that idiot Orvis wasn't interesting…his soul was just old."
'Orvis!!'
Evan just reaped a little boon from letting her drone on. He had gained information about the na of another Hero she had seen—Orvis.
But the real piece of information was not the na, but what she said after.
'She said his soul was 'Old'.
That can only an one thing…'
The soul in the body of the person called 'Orvis' was one of the previous 'Seven Heroes' of a thousand years ago!
Whichever Hero that was, it was soone who had succeeded in possessing a new body!
'I expected this, but it seems I have to be more careful when I go to the Beta Continent.'
Seeing that Agnes appeared to hold him in high regard and was still very amicable despite the fact that he just tried to kill her not too long ago, Evan decided to see if he could get more information.
"What about Abigail…was her Soul 'Old' as well?"
"Hmm? Why are you asking about her?"
Evan felt the ambient temperature in the room suddenly drop, as well as Agnes' lips curled down into a frown.
"You're curious about her?"
"…"
Though he remained silent, Ti Difference was active and he was trying to figure out a reason for her sudden change in mood. But after several seconds of pondering, the conclusion he ca to was simple.
'She's annoyed that I'm asking about Abigail.
But why?'
Now that was a question that even Agnes didn't know the answer to.
"I'd much rather talk more about your soul than about Abby."
"Is that so…but I think I've heard enough about mine. Don't you think the sa?"
"Enough? I personally don't think it's enough, but if you say so."
Agnes shrugged as if she wasn't bothered by this, leaning back onto her seat and 'looking' at Evan.
"As much as I'd like to talk to you more…you don't seem to share the sa sentint."
This much was obvious from the start, as from the very beginning, Evan was here to kill her due to how much of a future threat she was.
He did gain so information after letting her talk, but his goal hadn't changed.
"That 'Old Tir' also wants you dead as well. A pity he can't do much personally as he's busy with that Fake Hero project of his.
Even if he wasn't, he can't get too close to you now that you're an Irregular, or your nature which sses with ambient laws would cause problems for the 'World Formation', of which, he's the 'Central Node'."
Considering Agnes wasn't officially a Demonic Hand Executive, she sure knew a lot of information about the Demonic Hand's World Formation, as well as the fact that each Executive was a Node in this Formation.
'But what's this about not being able to get close to ? Kethryllia and Maude were very fine being near .
Is there sothing about the Irregular title that interferes with the World Formation?
But the 'Second Finger' is also a Node AND an Irregular to boot. That can't be the case.
So, what is it?'
Agnes didn't let Evan's thoughts continue for long, breaking him out of them with her next words.
"The Demonic Hand wants you dead, but personally, I prefer you to be very much alive. I'd like to study your Soul a lot more.
But it would be a problem if you kept on ssing with their plans so I'm kind of at a loss here…"
Though she said that, the smile she wore made Evan feel that she really wasn't 'at a loss'.
He slowly dipped his hand into his inventory and when she saw the light of the skill rune on Evan's soul, she smiled wryly and spoke.
"In the end, it all cos down to violence."
"…"
The Room was silent for a second, and Evan infused more magic power into his concealnt.
'Alright, I should not let her open her eyes or use her BFC.'
'He probably doesn't want to open my eyes. I wonder how much he knows about my abilities?'
Just as Agnes thought that, her lower body's temperature suddenly dropped.
For half a second she was genuinely confused, but in the other half, she realised that Evan had instantly frozen her body in ice, faster than she could react.
Moreover, the ice was spreading fast.
'Pyrofare. Spiral Flas.'
Flas burst from her body, lting the ice in an instant and freeing her body so she could jump back to gain distance.
However, Evan was already right in front of her, his sword slashing down with the intent to split her body in two.
"?!"
Danger Sense rang an alarm and Evan turned his blade at the last mont, bringing it down to cut the stream of fire that spiralled in from his side.
Agnes took that chance to jump back a few tres, while Evan also blinked out of the way to avoid the two other fire magic spells that followed.
He didn't let them hit the ground as that would give Agnes a smoke screen she could move around in, so he deployed Elental Shields around the projectiles and let them explode inside the shields.
Looking to the side, he saw the person who had fired those spells from his right…was Agnes.
This didn't make sense since Agnes was supposed to be in front of him, and not to his right.
"Clones?"
"Not quite. It's a Homunculus."
The other 'Agnes' walked up to the original one and she grabbed its hand, turning the entire body into a wax-like liquid which she absorbed through her hands in just a few seconds.
Seeing her do this, Evan ca to a realisation.
"You…this isn't your real body."
"Hmm? Didn't I tell you from the start? That I can't clearly read your soul in 'this body'."
Agnes tilted her head as she spoke, but she very quickly shrugged before pinching her dress and spinning around, as if wanting Evan to check her out.
"How do you like it? Abby was making a Homunculus for sothing so I had her make one for as well.
It's an exact copy of my real body."
'Abigail Lowe! What are you doing?!'
Right now, Evan wanted nothing more but to question his fellow Hero on why she was aiding a Demonic Hand affiliate to get a second body.
Too bad Abigail was on another continent.
As he was thinking about how he was going to make Abigail compensate him for the trouble, Agnes released a burst of energy from her body.
Magic, Aura, Ether.
These three energies burst out simultaneously, with the intention to distract Evan and prevent him from noticing her increasing the concentration of Soul Power in her eyes.
But since her magic power augnted her Soul Power, Evan noticed it all the sa as the magic power concentration around her eyes increased exponentially.
Without hesitation, the boy took action.
Evan's body 'disappeared' as he launched his body at near sonic speed, the world around him slowing down as he saw Agnes' eyelids slowly start opening.
While her 'Soul Sight' beca stronger when she opened her eyes, this wasn't the only thing that happened.
Her eyes being open was the requirent for her to use her other abilities—the kind that were very useful in combat.
Agnes used the energy she released to deploy multi-layered barriers to slow Evan, but with Pierce Guard, all those barriers were pierced through like a knife through a tissue.
However, her goal was to 'slow him down', not to 'stop him'.
The half-second she bought with those barriers, was enough for her to fully open her eyes and lock gazes with Evan.
Agnes' eyes were a beautiful greyish-white colour that fit her perfectly.
When she smiled at Evan with those eyes, his vision went black.
"Soul Duel."
Evan's vision returned, and he found himself within a completely white space. It reminded him of the ti when he first t Artemisia, as the goddess' Domain was very similar in appearance to this.
'Co to think of it, she hasn't been around for so ti now…'
That thought crossed his mind as he looked around him, before clicking his tongue and muttering three words.
"Fucking Battlefield Creation."
Evan turned his gaze to the front and saw Agnes standing there, dressed in white as usual and with a calm smile on her face.
"Welco, to the Realm of my Soul, Evan Eris.
Here, we can 'Duel' without any obstructions or third-party interferences."
She took a step forward, but her feet never touched the ground; instead, she ascended to the sky as if she were walking on an invisible flight of stairs.
"It's just that there's a slight problem for you though.
As this is the realm of my Soul; Here, my Word is Law."
Agnes stated calmly as she floated in the air, snapping her fingers and causing the white space they were in to undergo a transformation.
Within seconds, they were now within a 'City'. High-rise buildings everywhere, factories in the distance and an intricate network of streets combined together to form this landscape which seed to stretch endlessly.
Agnes looked down at Evan on the ground, her gaze at him as serene as ever as she declared.
"Within this realm; I am god."
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