Death... and me
chapter-1988

'Are you okay going out alone?' Rean asked Roan through their Soul Connection.

Roan nodded, actually preferring it that way. 'It's fine. If you stay with Fagund and Fleus, you can keep them occupied. For them, we're new to the Underworld, so there's nothing wrong with me wanting to take a look around. Plus, they said it themselves. You can't fight in the Path of Reincarnation's periphery.'

'Alright.' Rean followed Roan's plan. 'I'll contact you if anything happens. Leave our connection open so that I know when you find a good place to take Beelzebub out.'

Roan didn't mind and continued to fly around. At the same time, he contacted Beelzebub in the Dimensional Realm. 'Do you know a good place where I could leave you? I'm already inside the Path of Reincarnation's periphery.'

'What?! Really?!' Beelzebub was taken aback, not expecting it to happen that fast. Then again, the twins didn't give him any information before sealing him up again. 'Wait, let me think about it for a bit!'

Beelzebub checked the many memories from the other souls and his own, trying to remember the time he was near the Path of Reincarnation. After a few moments, he finally recalled a good place. 'Right! Which side is Fekis City in relation to the Path of Reincarnation's entrance?'

'If I consider the Path of Reincarnation to be north from my position, Fekis is south-southeast from here. I'm somewhere in the middle at the moment,' Roan replied.

Beelzebub immediately began to point in the direction he wanted. 'Great! It isn't far. Fly northwest until the Path of Reincarnation is on your right. Once there, head straight north until you see a bunch of mountains. It's the only place in the periphery where you can see more than two mountains at the same time. There are more mountains in the area, but they're too far from each other.'

'Those two mountains are inside an area of the Path of Reincarnation's periphery where very few dead souls arrive. That's because the concentration of Dark Element there is slightly lower than in the rest of the place. It's almost imperceptible, but dead souls are very sensitive toward that. That's the best place to let me out without catching anyone's attention.'

Roan didn't waste time and immediately shot into the distance, ignoring everything else. The area where the devils could gather the souls was enormous, but not to the point where it would take too long to fly through at Roan's level.

At the same time, Rean, Fleus, Fagund, and the other devils that followed them went to a quieter place near the area where the cultivation limit was imposed. That's where Fagund would try to use his Soul Guiding Power for the first time.

"This should be good enough. Not many souls appear here due to the distance from the Path of Reincarnation's entrance. On the upside, you won't find many devils fighting against you for them either."

Rean looked around and saw the moment a dead soul appeared. It was quite strange. Dark Element gathered in the area... as did a small amount of Light Element. It's just that the Light Element was barely noticeable because of the much more present Dark Element. Not even a second passed before a dead soul appeared right in that place. The Dark and Light Elements then dispersed as fast as they gathered. "There's a new soul there and no other devil nearby from what I can see with my Divine Sense."

"Great!" Fagund quickly dashed in the dead soul's direction, followed by Fleus and Rean.

"Okay, I'll try it now." Fagund's Divine Energy and Soul Power then fueled his soul-guiding energy, causing the soul to take notice of his presence. However, it was too weak. As a result, the soul only barely moved. "Eh? That bad?"

"Hahaha!" Fleus laughed in response. "Young Master, that's normal. You at least caught that dead soul's attention for a moment. When I first came here, I couldn't do even that."

"What about me?" Rean asked with a smile.

Fleus's mouth twitched after hearing that. "You can just find a place to bury yourself and never come out. I don't want to remember what you did."

Fagund calmed down a bit and tried to increase the strength of his Soul Guiding Power. However, he was still a Nascent Soul Realm devil, so he couldn't do as much as Rean and Fleus did. As for the soul, it still seemed to have noticed something but didn't follow Fagund's orders to enter the bracelet.

Rean patted Fagund's shoulder and used his Divine Sense to talk. 'You're doing it wrong. Well, at least it's very different from what my brother and I did.'

Fagund knew that. 'I know, but I can't replicate what you two did. Even Fleus wasn't anywhere near it.'

Rean pondered over it for a bit. It was true that Fagund wasn't a Death Spirit in the past, like Roan. Nor did he have Roan's memory, like Rean did. In any case, Rean felt like it was possible for him to do much better than what he saw from Fleus and the other devils. 'Try doing it this way. Instead of fueling your Soul Guiding Power with your Divine Energy and Soul Power, try to use it without their support.'

Fagund was puzzled by Rean's words. 'But if I do that, I won't be able to even manifest my Soul Guiding Power.'

'That's not it.' Rean disagreed. 'It's just that you're too focused on the Divine Energy and Soul Power part. You can't even control your Soul Guiding Power at all, so what's the point in fueling it? First, get used to manifesting it. Only then try to add Divine Energy and Soul Power. Remember, your own soul is what acts as a beacon to the dead souls, and the Soul Guiding Power is kind of a representation of that. Just try to spend the next few hours doing only that.'

Fagund pondered over it for a bit before eventually nodding. He did have the next five days, after all. 'Cool, I'll give it a try.'