Reincarnated as a betrayed prince

Chapter 109: The Devil of Vainglory and Vanity

Kanbe woke up, and looked around the area where he was. He was inside a room of 60 meters per 60 meters, with two sliding doors, the flooring was made of tatami, and there was a small kotatsu with a bowl filled with mochi. Nothing else, yet nothing more, but this alone made Kanbe feel like if he had returned to Earth, yet that feeling vanished when he saw Falco.

Seeing Falco made Kanbe get up quickly and search for his sword, but the young hero did not find it anywhere in the area while Falco started laughing softly while eating mochi. This made Kanbe glare at the young mage, while losing his patience with the passing of every single second.

-Falco: Luckily, I could convince Anri to get you here instead of the academy. If the sorcerers saw you defeated, things would have gotten hectic. To say the least, since they do handle politics quite well. Sumeragi certainly did a number on you all, but that's to be expected. You trigger him, and he makes sure you repent. That said, probably because since Legadonia got offed by Mina and her Sunken Guardians are nowhere to be found for Evan right now, he is after me and that's somewhat not good. With Evan, it's doable to negotiate some sort of deal. But with Sumeragi? Well, let's say that he didn't inherit Evan's patience at all.

-Kanbe: And in what does that really affect me!? At least tell me where's my equipment!

-Falco: All in due time, specially since you were looking for me. If Sumeragi finds me, notices that I am somewhat weakened and that I can't release her sister's Sunken Guardians as quickly as he wants... Well, he will most certainly grind me into fine dust, even with Grandine trying to stop him. And you want information from me, and to be honest... I am the only one who can negotiate with Evan and Takuto at the same time of all the godslayers that are alive. So, let's keep this short for dense idiots like you and Takuto: I am your only way out of Evan's wrath once he recovers, and the only one who could trick him, and that means that you shall help me with this mess.

Kanbe looked at Falco, not believing any of his words, and ready to just try to get out of the room by jumping out of the room from the sliding doors that were easier to cross over. But the first second he tried that, he fell to the ground without being able to counter it.

-Falco: I can't do stuff just like the Pulsemasters. But I can use illusions to make you fall to the ground, so how about you hear me out? After all, a godslayer like Evan can't be easy to defeat. Well, now it should be your chance to be honest. Probably, after forcing up that deviant spell combo, he won't be able to use offensive spells that easily. I give four to five months of time for recovery without the tech. The child body is not that great after all, until they are ten... Children can't use master level spells like that, nor spell variations so happily, so a deviant spell is a bloody suicide. Mainly due to their limited opening of the mana veins, since they are not fully open.

-Kanbe: And why should I trust you? You haven't proven anything that isn't your ability to make me fall down to the ground. And all of this hasn't helped much.

-Falco: If I showed anything else, you would be dead or dealing with that flat elf. Also, your grandfather would turn me into sashimi if I ever dared anything like that. I love my head where it stands, so if you don't mind, I will do my best to prevent angering your grandfather.

Kanbe reacted to what Falco said, and looked surprised while trying to find his equipment. This made the young mage laugh, while he continued enjoying the mochis he was eating, and moved to open a sliding door which was on the left side of the room.

-Kanbe: Mina and my grandfather are here!? I should go to talk with them!

-Falco: Calm down, boy. I don't know what are you thinking, but that girl has a past too strong for you. For anyone alive, she's somehow who should be avoided like the Black Death. She's on Evan's list of torture on sight, and for no small reason. She somehow killed Legadonia, and somehow got Legadonia's Sunken Guardian sealed. I know where they are, and I am sure that Evan will go after them. He is somehow crippled, and since that's the case... Then it's our time to negotiate with him. Make a truce, forget about hurting him or stopping his plan. Once he recovers, and I am sure he will recover, he will uphold that truce.

-Kanbe: And what would that truce be? Give him Mina and the Sunken Guardians, so he doesn't destroy us!? Are you stupid!? That's just appeasing him, not negotiating!

Falco looked at Kanbe, really hurt by Kanbe's words, since he knew that Kanbe was right. Negotiating with Evan with this kind of things truly was a matter of appease him while quelling his wrath, once he was calmed down... He would be more open to negotiate than before. And Falco had never dealt with Evan being this enraged, and that meant that this time... The negotiation wouldn't be 'Give me one of the two things I want' but would be straight up 'Give me both, and I may let you live even if you were assisting them even for a second'.

-Falco: He will not drop any of the two objectives. Not this time. You idiots costed him one granddaughter, and one daughter, because her granddaughter got brainwashed by Katas and Mina was stupid. Mina should have never accepted the job of killing Legadonia, in fact, she should have killed Katas and given the head to Legadonia. Evan is generous when someone does a good job, but that also mirrors how focused and sadistic he gets when someone crosses him. And Mina has crossed him to the point where even the Osiar, who dabbled in soul godslayer tech that did affect people even in Earth, look like petty children in his eyes.

Kanbe looked surprised at Falco, not believing what he had heard. Back on Earth, he had heard some rumors of a group of players of a game known as Dawn World that could affect real people... Yet, he disregarded those rumors as baseless rumors. But by what Falco was saying, the rumor was true, and even Evan disliked the very same notion of that. Which was something he couldn't understand.

-Falco: Well, I can understand your disbelief. Even I didn't believe it when I reincarnated, but turns out that since Earth has a massive mana yield and no use for it... Well, other worlds decide to steal a sliver of that mana to boost even further their world's mana yield. But since causing an accident was a damn mess to do every single month, and some gods became fallen gods while trying to become stronger to the point where the remaining gods required assistance... Well, they did send to Earth a good amount of some rings that were required to play Dawn World. Of course, they didn't appear and say 'Play this game!'. They were smarter, they left the game in the hands of a big company and left them to check the game without truly letting the tampering stay.

-Kanbe: But this wouldn't work on any big company! They'd make sure that the game did what they wanted, and make it fully safe.

Falco nodded, but then he sighed, knowing that what was explaining would gain him more enemies than allies. And in fact, Evan would like to rip him into bite sized cubes after this. It was something he didn't like to do, but he knew how to cover for this with a better sacrifice, so Evan wouldn't decide to kill him. Proving how useful he was alive would make Evan doubt if to kill him or not, and if Falco could give him something he truly needed... Probably, his soft side for the godslayers and Evan's dislike of wasting would make sure he could play at two sides. It wasn't an easy task, but it was the best way to survive now that Evan knew he was alive and that the Order of Sorcerers would be suspicious of him.

-Falco: Once all was green to go, they made a subroutine that would force the players to wear the ring and so the game would truly function as the gods expected. And without even the players knowing, their souls would be connected to Terra and the characters would react exactly how they would truly react. So in case of someone like Evan having a family in Terra, well, once they reincarnate... They'd be recognized. So in short, once they died... The gods would use the typical cliché lines to convince the players, without causing massive problems of identity, and would be able to not only grab a sliver of mana of Earth... But have a source of emergency heroes and reckless mavericks to use whenever they needed, and even when the world was in the game era... Well, they did obtain a massive mana yield that would be perfect. Obviously, all worked as planned until Evan and the other members of the four heavenly went full raid the godly areas of Paradiso and Inferno... Without counting the Osiar, and all the awesome tech we made with enough work. Of course, the gods did reset the technology chaos and made sure to cleanse Terra... To avoid being caught red-handed after the plan fully worked by the other gods. It would be a mess if every single god tried it.

-Kanbe: That didn't work as expected, right? You all started noticing the tales left behind, and somehow learned the truth. But too late to do anything about it, and in fact... What would be the other option? End up mixed in another godly conspiracy? And this situation was a win-win for everyone, instead of not knowing what will happen when you die... You end up in Terra, certainly a nice thing.

-Falco: Yeah, but the game closed. So the plan did not work as long as expected, not that they cared about that. With all the mana yield that they had obtained, they managed to set a system that would make the mana yield become infinite. In short, no matter what mortals do... The world will not run out of mana. And with that, they can recreate the world when the mortals do destroy it, and the fallen gods were almost gone. Of course, they couldn't drag those whose souls got wrecked by the Osiar nor the Osiar themselves so happily. Even Evan's black flames did not destroy the souls of the players, so they decided to send these very dangerous people to the sealed world.

Kanbe nodded, noticing how the plan truly worked. It was simple, since they already had worked their asses off in Dawn World... Those reincarnated from Dawn World would get tons of boons, to the point of making them almost unbeatable as long as the tech kept going. Of course, without the tech... The boons were still too much if they had their levels reset to 1. Which was Evan's case by what he noticed, but this alone made a problem. Now there were godslayers who didn't get their level reset, and those who did get it and the gap between each would be massive. Well, until it came the mess of the affinities. You could have massive status reaching the limit, but without affinities... The reincarnated without enough affinities to use all the skill points would have a problem with the skill points that they did not use. This was messy, and made Kanbe have a ton more of questions regarding the reincarnation process. Why some would have the level reset and others wouldn't? Why wouldn't just reset the soul and be done with it? All those questions did fill Kanbe's head, until Falco raised his hand and smiled.

-Falco: Why some get their level reset and others don't? Very simple, there are those who do a deal with a god and those who do not. Those who do not... Well, they get their Dawn World body. And those who do make the deal would lose the body, but get the chance to reach to level 100, but have status and affinities of level 160. I suppose that Evan is case two, but even more weakened. Probably to control the mess his inventory is, and trick him truly until he finds the truth out. And resetting a soul does give mana, but the remaining gods would waste tons of energy to reset all the godslayer souls and would be more wasteful than just reincarnating them. So use them, then reincarnate them again, and keep doing so. It's easier, and gives far more mana! Of course, now the world will be a mess until all the players of Dawn World get transmigrated here. But after all of them are reincarnated? They'll have tons of mana, more souls, and more people. A bit of mess, but in exchange they get mana.

-Kanbe: But why do they want so much mana?

-Falco: Why not? More mana yield for the world, so easier to make the world better and sturdier than Earth. And the gods use mana as if it was their currency, in fact even praying to them gives them more mana, so they tend to take more care for mortals than a mother takes care for their children... Most of the time. Let us say that there are exceptions to the rule. Probably Evan smelled something like this already back in Dawn World, or he lived such a bad life that the one of Dawn World felt more real to him. Mostly because he and the heavenly four were the only one who treated the villagers like people, and he was the only one who had children in Terra while also getting attached to them.

-Kanbe: And I do understand from where Evan comes from, but why going against David? There are better ways to fix Elstivia! We should be democratic.

-Falco: Maybe, but Evan does not trust in sentient beings. Specially in the ideals of and utopia of democracy, At least, not fully. He has learned from Earth's mistakes, and he follows what he learned from his analysis.

-Kanbe: And what did Evan learn that forced him to start a plan to kill David, and then take Elstivia for himself?

Falco nodded without saying anything else, while Kanbe shivered. He had always been wary of Evan, but what he had learned today had reignited his resolve. Whatever Evan was planning, should never come to fruition since that wouldn't save everyone, Evan would save those he could save but wouldn't try to compromise with the country to save more people. Kanbe didn't like, nor truly trust anymore, David nor his plan... Yet, allowing Evan to do what he probably had planned was something that Kanbe would not allow willingly.

-Falco: You are just a PR move of Zerax, so you don't know. But Zerax plans on turning Elstivia into a slave country. A slave to the rest of countries, that is. Of course, did my deals and all and let's say that my city will be spared. But Evan does not know that, hopefully, and I prefer that he does not know that. So he is just making a plan to take over Elstivia, so he stays safe without bothering Wukong, and then probably will go to kill Mina. Or the other way around if the chance appears... As you can see, he does not care about the order of how things are done, as long as they are done.

Kanbe could barely keep with what he had just heard, and his face showed how he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Falco looked calmly at Kanbe, and heard steps going from outside the room. Those steps that Falco heard were done by Takuto, who had been teleported with the rest to the building that Falco and Kanbe were, and Falco knew that the moment he had been waiting was so close to happen.

Takuto entered inside the room, saw Kanbe, and his face twisted into a remorseful face that could only shiver and looked at Falco quickly while his face turned to show pure and unbridled wrath.

-Takuto: You knew, and you kept quiet... YOU KNEW!

-Falco: Wasn't sure, and didn't want to give you hope, Takuto. David cleaned all the bloody trails because he knew you'd take Kanbe to Krebs, and then he'd lose any chance of salvaging his public reputation. Also, having a surprise like this in better times would make everything go smoothly. I know it wasn't a good thing to do, but I decided to be pragmatic.

-Takuto: Yeah, well... It wasn't practical. That said, so... You are here, Kanbe. I hoped you wouldn't, but then again... You were always helping people.

Kanbe looked at Takuto, and didn't recognize Takuto right away, until Takuto sat down doing a seiza while grabbing a mochi. Today had been a rollercoaster of emotions for Kanbe, but Takuto gave him the sweetest surprise of the day, and now he was smiling widely.

-Takuto: That said, you came to this world in the worst era possible. Evan is here, and he is...

-Kanbe: An outright insane bastard.

Takuto grinned and looked at Falco with a smug look, which made Falco glare at Takuto and then scoff while turning his head towards Kanbe.

-Takuto: So you had the displeasure to meet him. Told you, Falco. You are one of the few who accepted Evan as a boss, most of us simply followed what he said when he decided we had to do something for him. He did use fear and control at the same time on most of us.

-Falco: You would jump into a bottomless pit if he didn't. I don't disagree with Evan's actions back then, but I don't agree with his ideology. Not the main branches of it, but the more specific parts of his theorized meritocracy. I prefer capitalism, and even then... I feel like capitalism is too flawed. That said, better him than the Vana Via. At least in my opinion.

Takuto looked shaken and angered when he heard that name, which made Kanbe recoil and looked at Falco with a serious face. Falco sighed, and looked at Kanbe with a serious face, while Takuto glared at Falco with an angry face.

-Falco: You probably wouldn't hear this from anyone else. But Evan wasn't always a solo player, in his starts... He did join a guild. That guild was Vana Via, a PVP based academy guild. Or so we thought. But how wrong we were, they weren't just a PVP guild. Compared to PVP guilds, and the big factions, they were fiends worthy of being eliminated. Arusha was their leader, 'Devil of Vainglory and Vanity' Arusha. Arusha was a wonderful mage, and did help many newbies, yes. But to join that guild, there was a test. You would have to get into a grinder, any weak move would kill you, and they'd do anything to get stronger. They optimized their builds following meta paths, and Evan was just a normal newbie who disregarded that. He was the only member of Vana Via whom dared to disregard the meta.

-Kanbe: But he got out of Vana Via, no? Then they must have decided to kick him out for not following their rules!

-Falco: Yeah, no. The truth is that they did go too far, and Evan decimated them. Alone. They captured all the areas where new players could train, and kept a solid way to ensure that no one who didn't deal with them would be killed on sight. But the incident was so massive, that all the godslayers decided to promise one thing: To never talk about Vana Via.

-Takuto: And you broke that promise, Falco. You will have to deal with the consequences of that. I am sure that Hermes nor Wukong will be glad to hear you squealed about Arusha.

Falco chuckled, while eating some mochi, and then glared at Takuto with an angry face. Yeah, he did break a promise... A promise done such a time ago, that literally it should be considered as null by this time.

-Falco: Yeah, I shouldn't. Not after such a very loooong time, and not with this situation! NOT AT ALL! Evan is evil, and should be slain... But compared to Vana Via, who tried to make sure no new players would join... He is a necessary evil.

-Kanbe: How did Evan defeat Vana Via? As you said, that guild was a PVP guild. I can't believe that they would fall to any normal monster.

-Falco: Evan made the deviant spell system. More like discovered it. And he pushed it to the limit. Many godslayers will tell you that his greatest spell is a 60 spell deviant combo known as Cauldron of the End. But truth is... That his strongest spell is more fiendish than that. A 72 spell deviant combo, which mages call a Lemegeton spell in honor of what fiendish and most taboo spell Evan unleashed and Evan himself calls it a true deviant spell, known as Arusha Vana Via: The path of the damned. The skies turn pitch black, pitch black flames fall from the skies and explode upon contact, and so an aerial bombing of the black flames that made him be known as the black flame devil happens. Back in those days, black flames were totally unknown, since Evan was the only one who found out how to produce them. So no one could know that using a simple purification skill, you could purify those flames and turn them to normal.

-Kanbe: But what did those flame do to make them so terrifying? I did read some books at the castle, but nothing came out when I sought about the black flames.

Takuto nodded, knowing why no book would record the black flames. After all, either you worked for Evan and so you saw the effects of such flames to the point of being nightmare fuel... Or you were a target of these flames.

-Takuto: Simple enough, these flames are greedy and gluttonous. Try to disperse them with mana or barrier skills, and they'll eat them to spread further. Once attached onto a person, you purify those flames with holy magic or purification skills, or you will see that person burn to ashes. No matter how much earth or water you pour onto them. Once out of control, black flames can devour cities without stopping at all. That's clear damage over time element, but so dangerous that no one would even consider using them because they don't even consider who is friend or foe. Not that Evan would care in that situation, he watched the entire guild burn while he depleted his mana and was unable to move.

-Kanbe: Then that spell has massive drawbacks! We can force it out and then defeat him!

Falco looked at Kanbe's face, filled with hope, and felt bad for having to break down the young hero's hope, but it was of vital importance to do so.

-Falco: Its sheer range makes that impossible. The attack rains down upon a city. You will need to give up a city and pray you can reach him, because those flames only recognize their caster, before he recovers. And he will never release that spell unless having determined that there's no other choice.

Kanbe looked righteously scared right now, facing someone like Evan was impossible. But then, why did Evan let him live? Kanbe was sure that Evan wouldn't do sloppy mistakes like leaving a growing threat to become a true threat for his plans... So it would be because Evan was so weakened, that he saw Kanbe as more of a problem in the long turn than something he could fight against. That was what Kanbe decided to believe, and knew that now he had a slight chance to win against Evan.

-Falco: You finally noticed, but decided to have hope. Yes, Evan is enough weakened to be defeated... For now. I know that guy, he does not give up power without a chance to gain even more power. Or he could be easily just playing us for hopeful fools, and just keep his power hidden. He most certainly is sadistic enough, thanks to your loving mockingbird, to pull out that one. So while we appease him, we need you to put everyone that Evan will target either through the chopping block or together to face him.

-Takuto: The second option would be ideal, in my opinion. Killing Evan is far better than dealing with him for a lifetime, his mind goes off on his sadism once he gets angry.

-Falco: Because you are biased, and want to outright kill Evan. I prefer to keep the necessary evil alive, to prevent the worst evil to come back. I love being free and alive, thank you very much, and if Arusha somehow escapes... We will need Evan back. Or that, or working with the lapdog of Zerax... And you know who am I talking about, which is a bad idea, and it will turn us into slaves working for Zerax. Sorry, but I prefer the known evil rather than dealing with that prick of Zerax.

-Kanbe: I agree with grandfather, if Evan is as dangerous as you say Falco... The day he loses his grip, he will kill millions. He must be slain before that happens, even if we don't like that idea. So uniting those Evan hates under the same banner, been doing so already... So why not keep going?

Falco sighed, and decided to give Kanbe one chance. After that, he would go straight to assist Evan and help him fulfill his objectives. Falco knew that facing Evan was extremely hard, and not worth the cost, so he preferred to work with him. And he could always work his way to convince Evan to just imprison Kanbe, and be nice for once. And if the being nice for once reason didn't work out, Falco knew that using the fact that Mina seemingly cared for Kanbe so much... Well, that would most certainly convince Evan. Even if that meant that Mina would be dead in order to save the young hero.

-Falco: Okay, he plans on going after the sealing gems where Legadonia's Sunken Guardians are. He does not know they are there, he is going there for his own reasons. Vizgard knows where the gems are, and can open the path. I will not assist you further than this, you know how dangerous Evan is and still go forward. If you want to die, then go on your own stride, but I am not going to sure death by the hands of a jackass like you nor at the hands of someone as unstable as Evan.

Kanbe smiled at Falco, got up and shook Falco's hand while keeping his smile. He had a chance, and he would not waste it. Or so he planned on doing, which could work or not, but that had to be seen. Takuto grinned while looking at Kanbe, proud of his grandson and ready to assist him.

Meanwhile, inside a massive stone castle that was located in Scidros... Below the sea level, in a floor that was a spherical floor filled with countless golems, metallic robots that held crossbows, and many men wearing pure white armors... Anri was walking towards the center of the sphere, which had an individual cell surrounded by ballistas and countless sorcerers and mages. At Anri's left side, there was a man who was wearing a silver armor with black engravings, that had a hood covering his face attached to the armor, and had a sword hanging from the left side of his waist.

Anri looked at the man, while scowling, and the man simply sighed while looking around the area. The man was scared of even walking closer towards that individual cell, just like all the guards in the entire Holy Stone Forest prison, but had to follow Anri due to the orders that came from above.

-Anri: You could have let me walk alone. I hate seeing you so scared, Vizgard.

-Vizgard: Not even I could handle her. With Evan's case, I am a great counter to him, but the one behind bars is not one who would even think of fighting me in a dirty way. She would avoid me while doing psychological attacks on me.

-Anri: I know. But to defeat the evil that Sumeragi and his siblings are... We need her information. She's the only one who could have any idea on how to defeat the Sunken Guardians.

A rather childish voice came out from the cell, which made everyone get their weapons ready to attack at the cell without any regard for the rest of the prison. If the prison had to be destroyed to keep the person in that cell imprisoned, then so be it. For every single guard in this prison, that was a fact. They didn't mind dying as long as the one in that small individual cell died or was sealed for all eternity.

-Child's voice: So you came, Anri the Wise. I fear your title is a bit overrated, specially since you didn't come with Wukong. Are you simply trusting in these fools? Really?