Chapter 778 - 778: Conflict of Beliefs
“…Also, last I checked, Agnes, the ‘World’ would not give a flying fuck if 40% of its population was to die out this instant.”
Agnes wanted to question where Evan even ‘checked’ such a thing, but the boy’s barrage of questions wasn’t done.
“Besides, who are you to decide that some people should be sacrificed for this plan of yours?”
“…”
Agnes remained silent. Not because of the fact that she did not have an answer, but because her answer was one very selfish one.
Evan didn’t wait for her to collect her thoughts and reply, he simply picked up his cutlery and moved his focus to his food as he spoke.
“This ‘plan’ of yours is definitely not gonna work.”
Scenes from the game replayed themselves in Evan’s mind, of the Havoc wreaked by the Demons.
He saw how the Demons massacred their way into the Aidos who hadn’t healed from the damage the Demonic Hand caused.
The game was a simulation of the future, and from what he saw there, it was clear that this ‘plan’ did NOT work out.
“We don’t know where the FCS is, neither do we know what it looks like! So, it makes so much sense to let the demons come and take it away themselves since they have this information.
The losses do not exceed the gains.
If the plan isn’t gonna work then it’d be the fault of the ignorant who are resisting the Demonic Hand.
You, in particular, Evan. You have killed two of its Executives. Do you have any idea how much you have destabilized the ‘World Formation’?
Ever wondered why I haven’t actually become an ‘Executive’ yet?
It’s because the World Formation is so unstable right now, that trying to create another node would do more harm than good. And that’s because you killed Domnik Velak and Maude!
That thing is our shot at gaining complete control over the Dimensional Rift!!”
Upon hearing Agnes say the World Formation was unstable, Evan broke out into a smile and replied.
“Well, that’s certainly good to hear.
Mind telling me how many more Executives I have to kill before it’d completely break apart?”
“Evan, that thing can grant us control over the Dimensional Rift! If possible, we may even be able to close the rift permanently after the Demons are gone!
We’d command the World’s Repulsion force and could banish all invaders from the planet at will.”
“Nuh-uh. I don’t agree with that.
Let’s assume it’s possible to use the World Formation to control the Rift. I’m not disputing it since I don’t know if it’s feasible.
What I do know is there are other ways to control the Dimensional Rift that don’t involve sacrificing people.
Seriously, when in history has magic that demands living sacrifices ever worked out as planned?”
Evan snapped his fingers, conjuring an excerpt from the RHS Archive, showcasing past instances of ‘Sacrificial Magic’ in Aidos’ history—all ending in disaster.
“Take the Second Finger, that person’s the ‘Child of Space and Gravity’. Toss in a third Child Series skill and they’d surely become a Transcendent and gain an Ultimate Seed.
Why don’t you try having them take control of the Dimensional Rift? That thing’s Tier 7 Magic and Transcendents can affect Tier 7 Magic to an extent.
That sounds like a way you guys can control the rift without sacrifices.”
Agnes wanted to interject but Evan raised his hand to stop her as he continued.
“As for the matter of the World’s Repulsion force, you cannot use the World Formation to control it and expel the Demons.”
“Mind telling me why you’re so sure about this?”
“With Pleasure.”
Evan sat up and leaned forward as he began explaining.
“The Natural Repulsion Force of Aidos is not strong enough to expel all the Invaders.”
Agnes placed her hands on the table and leaned forward as well, raising her brow in question as she spoke.
“Are you hearing yourself, Evan? Aidos is a Prime World, the highest rank of Worlds out there.”
“Second Highest, there’s a level above Prime.”
“Doesn’t matter, Aidos is a ‘Higher World’. Our planet’s fabric of space is so strong that the Demons were unable to create another Dimensional Rift during the War and could only come in through the first one despite numerous attempts.”
“Oh wow, Ferrid sure told you a lot, Agnes.”
“It matters not what that Old man told me. What matters is that you’re saying that the Repulsive force of Aidos—a world with such a powerful spatial fabric—is weak.”
“It’s not weak. It’s just not strong enough to force Peak Ranked Demons out. That’s just how things work.”
Agnes looked at Evan with confusion, wondering why he suddenly mentioned Peak Ranks and Evan laughed at her expression before replying.
“In the Galaxy, there is a place for everything.
Higher Worlds like Aidos were built to accommodate Powerful beings since these higher worlds would not crumble under the pressure of these beings’ powers.
Lower Worlds, on the other hand, cannot withstand the pressure of such great powers. Higher Existence kind of powers.
As such, the Galaxy is hardwired in a way, that the Higher a world, the weaker its Repulsion Force.”
“…what?”
The girl was naturally surprised at this piece of information Evan had just dropped. The boy expected this, as he was sure that Ferrid would not have told her this.
“Lower Worlds have stronger repulsive forces against outsiders because they cannot withstand such great power.
I mean, if you’re capable of travelling across worlds, you’re surely gonna be a powerhouse of some sort.
Some Lower Worlds out there can barely withstand the powers of Sovereigns. That’s why they have such strong repulsive forces—to keep beings with power over their acceptable limit away.
But as a World’s rank gets higher, it becomes stronger and can withstand greater powers. Its repulsion force weakens.
This happens because the World now has an obligation to accommodate powerful beings. It’s basically the Galaxy saying, “Hey, I made it so you can do whatever you want on this higher world, so don’t go to lower worlds and cause problems there!”
As such, even if you were to somehow gain control of Aidos’ repulsion force with the World Formation, it would not be strong enough to push away stronger opponents.”
This counterintuitive aspect meant that while Aidos could host powerful entities, it could not easily expel them since it was designed to accommodate them.
“My guess is Peak Ranks would be able to resist it by consuming their magic power. What’s more, if they make a contract like I have with Roselia, the World Repulsion force wouldn’t be able to do a thing to them!”
Evan revealed an added benefit of his contract with the Deadly Sins—a benefit for them. Demon contracts could serve as loopholes to circumvent the world’s repulsion force.
This meant that simply controlling the repulsion force was insufficient.
“You and I both know there’s no way the Demons would NOT send Peak Ranks here the moment that rift opens wide enough.”
Agnes was about to speak, and Evan knew she was going to say something along the lines of ‘then we’d just make sure the rift doesn’t get wide enough’.
However, that would end up contradicting the whole plan of theirs.
“If the FCS really exists, and is truly such a hot potato. You think the Demons are gonna tell their rank-and-file soldiers about it?”
When Evan asked this question, Agnes froze.
She realised that there was no way that the low-ranked demons would know about the FCS’s existence. It’d probably be classified information.
“I don’t think Mid Ranks would know either.
Heck, if I was the Demon King, I wouldn’t even tell High Ranked Demons. But Peak Ranks…those are the guys who’d definitely know about it.
If you want the Demons to take the FCS away, you’d need to let the Demons who know about it in—you’d have to let Peak Rank Demons in.
But once you let them in, you wouldn’t be able to kick them out! Aidos has just 5 Transcendents, all of which are still Inferior Stages.
One Superior Stage is enough to beat the shit out of them!”
Evan knew about this whole World Repulsion force schtick from Arlan Maddox’s memories. The Seven Heroes had conducted extensive research into Dimensional Rifts and had gone to other Worlds with small rifts before the one leading to Gozon was opened.
“Where did you get access to this information about the Repulsion Force getting weaker?”
“From the same source Ferrid found out about its existence. You don’t think the rift on the Dark Continent is the only one that’s appeared in Aidos’s history, do you?”
The Hero’s reply to Agnes was one he delivered with a snort. Agnes thought he was just bullshitting her and wasn’t going to tell her the real source of his information, but he actually wasn’t!
“Okay, let’s say the World Repulsion force is weaker.
We can still force them out through other means.”
“Like what?”
“We can mark them.
If we take control of the Dimensional Rift and modify it into a ‘Dimension Gate’, we can apply ‘Soul Marks’ to every being that comes in through it.
You know how good I am at Soul Magic; it would not be hard for me to do this.”
From here, one of the reasons why the Demonic Hand wanted Agnes on their side could be seen.
Their plan for the Soul Marks involved Soul Magic, and no one on Aidos who knew of Agnes’ existence could dare say they were better than her at it.
“You think you’d force them out through the Soul Marks?”
Evan’s hand blurred and by the time Agnes could process what he had just done, she realised that his fingers had already circled her neck.