Death... and me

Duran started to approach the area where he saw the movement happen on the ground while Rean stayed as still as a rock. With his Light bending skill, it really looked like the place was completely empty. However, Duran was sure he had seen something moving there a while ago.

Because of Kila, a Stage Nine Demon Beast, all the other demon beasts in the vicinity had fled. Other than the damaged area, there shouldn't be any movement, especially in the place Rean moved in. Rean was also cursing at himself, thinking that he should have waited for Duran to leave before he tried to do so as well.

Duran then landed right in front of Rean and looked around as he narrowed his eyes, muttering to himself with a tone of suspicion, "Weird...was it just my imagination?"

Rean was happy to hear that, inwardly shouting, 'Yes, it was just your imagination! Now, go away!'

However, Duran playfully smiled before he jumped back a little. Soon after, he raised his right hand as Spiritual Energy and Wind Element gathered above it, creating a huge sphere of energy. "Well, if there isn't anyone here, I might as well destroy everything around just to be sure. Hehe!"

Rean felt like crying as he quickly turned off his Light bending skill, screaming, "Wait, wait, wait! It's me! I'm here! I'm definitely, 100%, absolutely here!" Who was he kidding here? Even if Rean ran as fast as he could, he wouldn't be able to leave the affected area in time. The attack of a Transition Realm cultivator would wipe him out of the universe in less than an instant.

Duran had to admit that he was surprised to see Rean's body suddenly appear right in front of him. It was incredible how close he was just a moment ago, yet he still couldn't see him. Nevertheless, what surprised him even more was the identity of the other person. "It's you!" Naturally, he recognized the white-haired boy that appeared in his clan's shop back during the war.

Rean sighed in relief as he noticed Duran retracting his attack, saying, "You really are merciless. Couldn't you do something more gentle, like creating a gale of wind or something like that, to confirm that everything was empty?"

Duran snorted in response. "Hmph! And how would I be sure that you didn't have a way to avoid it? The best way to pull someone out is to make sure their lives will be forfeited if they don't appear." Duran then changed the topic straight away, asking, "Forget that. How long have you been following me?"

Rean shook his head in response as he told him, "I didn't. It was your fight against the demon beast that caught my attention as I passed by."

Duran nodded, asking in response, "I see. Now then, how about answering a few questions of mine? Would you mind?"

Rean bitterly smiled after that. Although Duran asked politely, he knew that there wasn't much choice to start with. "Go ahead. I'm all ears."

"Good!" Duran was satisfied with his answer. "Now, what is this place? What are those demon beasts? What was that red claw? Is this a trap prepared by the demon beasts to kill our Zasfins? Where is the exit? Is the portal to the Realm of Gods still available?"

Rean's mouth twitched for a moment after that. In his mind, he cursed that Duran asked a butt-ton of questions from the get-go. Of course, he didn't dare to rebuke Duran as he replied, "Ahem...first question's answer, I don't know. Second, I don't know. Third, I don't know..." That was all Rean could say. "All in all, we're both in the same boat, not knowing what's currently happening."

Duran narrowed his eyes after hearing that, threatening Rean as he responded, "Then...I guess I have no reason to keep you alive, right?"

Rean let out cold sweat after that. Nevertheless, he still replied, "I guess...so? At least, I don't know how I could help you since you're much stronger than me. I also don't have any information that could help you whatsoever."

Duran was taken aback after that. Shouldn't someone in that situation ask not to be killed or that he could help with something else? This was the first time Duran saw someone simply accepting that he could only die. "I thought about it before, but now I'm sure...you're quite the weird fella."

Rean didn't deny that. "Well, at least not as much as my brother."

Duran then shook his head and gave up on the idea. "Forget it. I do owe you one, after all."

"Owe me?" Rean didn't understand. They reached an agreement during the war, and both sides did their part. There shouldn't be anything else.

Duran didn't explain, though. "You don't need to know." Of course, there was only one thing that could make Duran feel that he owed a human, Fikin's death. If not because of Rean and Roan's plan, he might have never taken his revenge in this life. For him, even the fate of the Zasfin race wasn't as important.

Duran then asked something else, "So, what are you planning to do?"

Rean pondered over it for a bit before saying, "I intend to meet up with my Freedom Sect members first. As for what comes after that, I'm not sure." It wasn't a lie. At the moment, Rean didn't even know if he and Roan could still carry the Soul Gem System's mission forward. As for helping to open the portal to the Realm of Gods, he was even more unsure about that.

However, Duran found the response quite weird. "Meet up with your sect members? Do you have a way to do that?"

Rean nodded in response, explaining, "When we opened the Bestial Sacred Ground, we were able to see the sky inside for a few moments before we were all teleported, right? When the teleports started to happen, we deduced that we would all fall inside this place, so we agreed to meet under the location of the centermost star." Of course, that was a huge lie. Rean was simply following his connection with the Minokawa. Kentucky's location just so happened to be in that direction anyway.

Duran was surprised by that but had to admit it made sense. "I see... this place is big, but not at the size of a real-world at all. They aren't like the stars outside, which are astoundingly far away. In fact, it's more correct to say that they are attached to the 'ceiling' of this realm. Naturally, those red stars are a very good way of guiding oneself since they only exist in this place." He blamed his race in his mind for not thinking about something so obvious before.

The question now was, what would he do with the information?