Reincarnated Hero System

One didn’t have the title of ‘Illusion Celestial’ without an absurd prowess in Illusion Manipulation to back it up.

If Belphont was a god, then he’d be the ‘god of Illusions’. That’s just how good the man was with them.

Even with his resistance to Illusions granted by Adaptive Evolution, Evan didn’t notice anything different until Belphont returned to his real form of his own volition.

But more than that, Evan was worried about Laurene and Kuro. So, without hesitation, he decided to play the card that he hadn’t wanted to play until the end.

‘Leviah…head to Olake and assist Laurene and Kuro.’

[Huh? Didn’t you say I was to sit this one out?]

‘Not anymore. Plans have changed. Inform Lloris that the Celestials are aware of our plans, and then go.’

Evan didn’t know if the FCDs were truly aware of all their plans, or not, but given how Belphont seemed to be expecting him, he was going to assume that they were.

The boy pressed his fingers to his head and heaved an exasperated sigh, stylishly tracing his fingers down to his ear and pressing the tiny Bluetooth-like device inside it.

It beeped once and began blinking red, sending an EMERGENCY message to everyone else who was present for the briefing on the 3rd.

This was something Evan had prepared to warn everyone in case things went wrong, but he never thought he’d have to use it this early.

‘As for Belphont…I’m not buying a fight with an Illusionist.’

Evan’s eyes darted to the side and he activated his Farsight skill, intending to use one of the broken windows to get a view of the outside and teleport, but the moment his pupils moved, Belphont took action.

“You’re NOT going anywhere!”

The Illusion Celestial hadn’t even finished speaking when the hall around Evan transformed. The wreckage from their earlier clash vanished, replaced by an illusion of the hall as it once was.

Recognizing the illusion, Evan switched from Blink to Kuro’s Shadow Teleportation, pulling Kayla along with him. However, instead of warping out of the building, they reappeared from a shadow cast by a torch in front of an empty wall.

“Didn’t you hear me? You’re not going anywhere.”

**BZZTT!!!

Lightning tore through the air and blasted Belphont’s head off right after he spoke. His body dropped to the ground before dissipating into mist, revealing it was just another illusion.

“Damn.”

His voice echoed from behind, and Evan turned to see Belphont seated on the railing of the second-floor stairs, shaking his head with a wry smile.

“She’s a feisty one, isn’t she?”

Another Belphont appeared on the throne at the end of the hall, grinning widely. Before Evan could turn there, a third Belphont appeared, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“She didn’t pull her punch on that one.”

Five more Belphonts materialized at various points in the hall, each wearing an amused smile.

“””””But it’s all pointless if your attack doesn’t hit.”””””

The Hero narrowed his eyes at this, but his consciousness was turned inward, searching his inventory for the teleportation stones he kept inside.

Upon finding one, he began formulating a plan to bring one out and crush it without Belphont noticing, when all the Belphonts spoke simultaneously.

[Dream Cage.]

They extended their hands, releasing a surge of celestial energy that shimmered with a radiant glow. Evan instinctively activated Elemental Shield to block, but the energy phased through the shield, enveloping him and Kayla in an instant.

[“?!”]

An overwhelming force pulled their bodies and the world around them distorted, colours blending and shifting as reality itself seemed to unravel. The once solid floor beneath their feet turned into a swirling vortex, dragging them down into something.

Even though the Banquet Hall around them still looked the same, Evan and Kayla knew it was not.

They’d been pulled into a different dimension!

[Oneiros’ ability…!!]

Those words slipped out of Kayla’s lips and Evan found himself agreeing with them, but a second later, he froze.

‘Wait a sec, I never told Kayla about Oneiros…why does she know that ‘Dream Cage’ is his power?’

However, Evan did not have the peace of mind to deal with Kayla’s strangeness as they were currently trapped within this Dream Dimension.

Unless they defeated the one who pulled them in, then they could not escape.

The bigger problem here was that ‘Dream Cage’ was NOT Belphont’s power! It belonged to a different FCD.

The deceased Dream Celestial Oneiros!

‘How does Belphont have Oneiros’ power…?’

Evan asked that question in his mind as he reached out to grab his sword, only for his hand to phase through his blade.

Clicking his tongue, he activated weapon control and the real sword flew back into his hand, just as the Belphont on the throne who saw this chuckled and spoke.

“I’m sure you’re wondering how I have Oneiros’ power.”

A Belphont appeared beside Evan and he patted the boy’s shoulder as he continued.

“That Deadly Sin Demon you walk around with…he’s the one who killed Qutia, isn’t he?”

Geomatic Celestial Qutia was the FCD that Nadarus had killed last year, and he had acquired the Geomantic Wrath Unique Skill from him.

“He was a demon and he was able to take Quita’s power. Don’t you think that I would be able to take the power of Oneiros, my fellow Celestial?”

“…”

Evan’s frown deepened when he heard Belphont’s words. It wasn’t that he had not considered that the Celestials could pass on their powers. He was more concerned about how it had happened.

When Leviah fought and killed Oneiros, he had used the Dream Cage on her and she overpowered him within this pocket dream dimension and killed him.

To be precise, she split his body into four unequal halves.

‘If Oneiros was dead, then how did he pass on his power to Belphont?’

The answer was Belphont had taken it from his fresh corpse!

Leviah did not know, but when she stormed Oneiros’ hideout, the Dream Celestial had just finished a meeting with Belphont.

Belphont had not yet left, and when Leviah came, he hid with his Illusions, with the Demoness not sensing his presence at all.

Couldn’t blame her though. Belphont’s Illusion prowess was on another level entirely. Besides Laurene who had Eyes of Truth, Eliza was pretty much the only one who might be able to detect him if he wanted to hide himself since he was still a living being and had a life sign.

But given that his Illusions could deceive even Evan’s appraisal skill into thinking it was appraising the real Glazard, who knew how effective her life sensing would be?

Since the FCDs gave a ton of EXP on death, Leviah had killed Oneiros intending to take EXP from him and had not plundered his ability.

After she killed Oneiros and left, Belphont revealed himself and in the same manner Qutia extracted Geomantic Wrath to give Nadarus, Belphont extracted what was left of Oneiros’ power.

He couldn’t take it all since the Dream Celestial was already dead, but he was able to gain the ability to ensnare one within this Dream Dimension.

That was why Belphont had ‘Dream Cage’, and he used it to keep Evan from running, as well as to cut off his connection with his companions and allies.

Magical signals could not pass through the Dream Dimensional Barrier, after all.

One of the many Belphonts surrounding them stepped forward and picked up the Sword of Frost he had dropped earlier.

“Glazard got a new stronger weapon, so he allowed me to have this one.”

Given that he could interact with a physical object, it was more apt to call this particular one an ‘Illusion Clone’ instead. He flipped the blade up in the air and caught it, before pointing it at Evan and releasing a blast of icy light.

Despite its supersonic speed, Evan waved his hand and smacked it away, sending it in the direction of the wall.

*BOOM!!!

The Belphonts glanced at the explosion, their mouths moving in sync as they continued speaking without surprise.

“As you can see, I’m not exactly the best at using this thing.”

All the Belphonts shrugged nonchalantly like they weren’t too bothered. Suddenly, Danger Sense sent Evan a warning and he turned around, swinging his sword to block the slash that suddenly came from above.

“Oh my, guess you were right about that danger sense thingy.”

One of the many Belphonts had attacked him from behind, wielding the real Frost Sword in his hands. This made Evan wonder just when the Frost Sword had changed hands, but then he realised that the ‘Frost Sword’ he was attacked with earlier, might’ve not been the real one in the first place.

Belphont might have created an Illusion of the Frost Sword and used regular magic to attack Evan, baiting the boy into thinking the real blade was in his sight when it actually wasn’t.

“I w-!”

**BOOOMMM!!!!

Faster than Belphont could utter a word, Kayla swiftly reverted to her human form, conjuring a crackling mass of lightning in her hand. She unhesitatingly slammed it into the body of the Belphont who just attacked Evan, obliterating him and everything in his vicinity.

However, when the dust settled, all the destruction Kayla had caused was undone as the Dream Dimension repaired itself.

“Oof, that wa-“

**BOOOMM!!!

Before the next Belphont could speak, Kayla darted forward, unleashing another devastating blast that reduced him to a dissipating mist.

With a snap of her fingers, she summoned a barrage of lightning spears that erupted from the ground, skewering the Belphonts on the second floor. They too dissolved into mist, revealing their illusory nature.

Belphont conjured thirty illusion clones, each wielding Frost Swords and mage staves. Spells flew from their hands, a blend of real and false attacks that converged on Evan and Kayla.

But before any of them could reach their targets, Kayla released a powerful pulse of lightning. It surged through the air, annihilating the real spells, dispersing the false ones, and uncovering the hidden ones.

She conjured a small cloud in the air, raining bolts of lightning down upon each illusion clone. One by one, they vanished under the relentless assault.

Before Belphont could fully reform them, Kayla struck again and again, each lightning strike punctuating the hall with explosive flashes and destroying the Illusion Clones over and over again.

Activating her Pseudo-Authority, Kayla charged a breath of Fire-Lightning. She aimed it at the ceiling, unleashing a torrent of blazing energy in an attempt to breach the Dream Dimension’s barrier.

The ceiling shattered, revealing the early ‘morning sky’ beyond, but the Dream Dimension swiftly healed itself, recreating the ceiling in an instant.

“Stop it, Kayla. Don’t waste your energy.”

Evan spoke to dissuade Kayla from attacking randomly, as they needed to find a way to figure out which was the real Belphont first.

Kayla turned towards him with an impatient look, about to speak when a Belphont suddenly appeared behind her and asked.

“Kayla, you say?”

**WHOOSH!!

The spirit’s hand moved faster than lightning, tearing the head of the Illusion Clone, but another one appeared on the second floor and spoke with his hand on his chin.

“Kayla…Kayla…Kayla…

Aha! It’s been thousands of years so I had almost forgotten.”

His eyes lit up and the light of recognition flashed through them. Seeing this, Kayla didn’t hesitate to destroy the Illusion Clone before it could speak but another one manifested beside Evan and continued anyway.

“Your Spirit Authority is stronger than normal spirits…so you’re a ‘Great Spirit’ aren’t you?”

[SHUT YOUR TRAP!]

Kayla zapped in and ripped his hand off Evan’s shoulder faster than even Evan could react, but the Illusion Clone only laughed.

“A ‘Great Lightning Spirit’, huh?”

[STOP TALKING!!!]

Kayla screamed in rage, punching the Illusion Clone’s face and destroying it, but another one manifested on the dais at the end of the hall. Calmly taking a seat and propping his chin on his palm, he grinned at Kayla.

“Really Kayla? That old trick?”

‘…???’

Evan’s eyes widened slightly when he heard Belphont’s words. What did he mean by ‘that old trick’? Or rather, why was there so much familiarity in his eyes when speaking to Kayla?

The look of ‘impatience’ on Kayla’s face, turned to one of ‘anxiety’. She glanced at Evan and seeing his shocked expression, fear gripped her heart.

[SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!]

In a bid to permanently silence Belphont, she released her magic power without holding back, destroying everything in sight in one massive nuclear-scale explosion.

Yet, everything was repaired in mere seconds by the Dream Dimension, along with the Belphont seated on the throne in front of them.

Parting his lips, the man asked a question that Evan would never have expected at this juncture.

“Why don’t you give that position of ‘Great Lightning Spirit’ back to the person it really belongs to?”

Evan frowned when he heard this, however, the boy shook his head and decided to ignore Belphont’s ramblings.

‘What’s important is getting out of here as fast as possible. The leisurely way he’s acting, Belphont isn’t trying to kill me—he’s trying to stall me here!!

I’d use BoD and World Sunder…it could break that other Dimensional Realm, so it should be able to do the same here.’

All these thoughts only took a split second with Time Difference activated. Even faster was Evan putting those thoughts into action.

He had already activated the BoD and began infusing his destruction essence into his sword when Belphont continued speaking, uttering words that shocked Evan still.

“Oh, wait! You can’t give it back, can you? You KILLED her, after all.”

What was even more shocking, was Kayla’s reply.

[I DIDN’T KILL HER; SHE WAS ALREADY DYING!!!]

“…what?”