"You know, I've always wanted to ask this question.
About how exactly are the Demonic Hand's demons come about?"
He looked at the time on the system interface and realised that it was just barely seven minutes in as he continued speaking.
"If you guys were the demons who were trapped here after the dimensional rift was closed then you should be a lot stronger than this.
Far stronger, considering that for you to still be alive, you had to have survived the Seven heroes' manhunt for the demons that happened that time."
Lensa slowly got out of the humanoid-shaped depression in the ground, holding her chest as she gauged her internal injuries, with panic momentarily flashing across her eyes the moment she discovered that they weren't healing.
"I mean, the current you is way too weak to have survived those guys. One of the few things that I don't hate about them is the fact that they were fucking strong.
But going back to you, I can easily match you who is a level 239 demon on her 'true form' state with just my first activation's power boost."
The current Evan was under the effects of the 300% power boost from the blessing of destruction's first activation, hence his ability to evenly match the higher levelled demon in her true form state where she could easily contend with beings that were 10 levels higher and his confidence to easily kill her whenever he felt like.
"In the game, the story was that the demons who were trapped here had children with each other which were how the demons who were under the demonic hand came about but seeing you, that doesn't add up.
After all, you recognized Greed, someone who has been sealed for a thousand years. So if you were born after the rift closed, you wouldn't have had a chance to see Greed your entire life.
At most you could have been told stories or seen pictures, but I doubt pictures and stories could make you that scared."
Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards Lensa with his fist pulled back, with the demon matching his actions and meeting his punch head-on.
She then grabbed his other arm with her second hand and generated a dozen spears of demonic energy behind him.
Right before the spears of demonic energy shot towards him, Lensa suddenly found both herself and Evan floating up in the air, with Evan taking forcibly pulling his arm out of her grip and punching her back towards the ground.
She crashed into her own energy spears mid-way before falling on the ground, with Evan reaching her landing position with his leg raised.
**BAM!
He delivered a kick to her torso, sending her body into the air for a bit before continuing with his words.
"As I was saying, you weren't scared by mere stories.
You had seen the real thing before, the real Deadly Sin Greed, and you understood just how strong he was.
That much was obvious given your age of '1102' years."
The young hero recalled the results of his earlier appraisal and studied the age tab in silence for a few moments, eventually arriving at an answer to his questions.
"Could it be that you were a demon sealed a thousand years ago and you only came into the service of the Demonic Hand in return for them unsealing you?"
As he spoke, the noble demon who was struggling to get up to her feet visibly flinched, with Evan nodding to himself as that reaction was more affirmation than he needed.
"I hit the mark, huh?
But it's impossible for all of you to be sealed demons who were unsealed by the demonic hand.
Maybe some were summoned directly from the demon world?"
The young hero placed a hand on his chin as he began recalling all he knew about cross-world summoning.
"It is possible provided that the laws of space are abided by and the magic doesn't try to forcefully rip open the world's spatial barrier."
He scratched his head and opened up the system archive, looking through a few things before sighing.
"Nope. All this spatial magic stuff is too complicated for the current me. I need someone to explain this to me.
Artemisia? Are you there?"
Hearing the name that the young hero called out, the noble demon who just got to her feet had her eyes widen in shock as she stared at Evan.
"Hmm…seems like she's still not here."
A sardonic grin appeared on her face as she spoke out to Evan who had a slight frown on his face upon not receiving a reply from Artemisia.
"Of course, she isn't.
Your goddess has forsaken you all. The fate of your world is sealed, and there's nothing you can do to stop it, even your legendary Seven Heroes were only able to delay the inevitable.
A mere abandoned puppet of the goddess like you can't do a thing."
The moment Evan heard those words, it felt as if something cracked in his mind as he slowly turned towards Lensa with a cold gaze.
"When I first met Pride and contracted with her, she used those same words on me, slightly different but their meaning was the same.
My reaction was quite explosive, a reaction that I didn't even know I had until a few months ago.
But now, I feel different…"
Hearing the name 'Pride' from Evan's mouth made Lensa flinch momentarily.
'Contracted with her?!
He's contracted with the Demon of Pride?! Is it even possible for someone like her to enter a contract with a human?!
Or rather, if he's contracted with Pride, then he's the reason that last year's plan didn't work out!'
Evan didn't know what she was thinking as he blinked and reappeared in front of her before speaking.
"…I feel nothing upon hearing you say the same thing now."
Lensa snapped her fingers as a gigantic two-ringed magic circle appeared underneath the two of them, with a large explosion ringing out in the next moment, creating a cloud of smoke and flames that shot up into the air.
"You really are bad at magic…"