Death... and me
chapter-1997

The twins continued their talk with the other participants. They asked about the other competitors, the Relic, and things like that. Sure, they weren't any secrets, but it was good to hear more points of view. After all, there weren't that many of them. The clans that had the right to participate had to at least have an Elder Devil in their midst or someone close to it. Not to mention that only the ones with Elder Devils could receive the Underworld Relic.

The clans that didn't have an Elder Devil didn't complain about it. It wasn't that they didn't have the strength for that. There was also the fact that the Underworld Relic's power could only be used by Elder Devils. For High Devils and below, it was more or less a paperweight. Not to mention that all Elder Devils could always tell where it was located, so it was the same as asking for trouble to hold it without having the necessary power.

*Ueeowwwwwww...*

Suddenly, the entire environment changed as the devils there felt like a huge power was pressing on them. Even Rean and Roan felt like they were nothing but ants against it, prompting them to be on guard.

"Hmph!" The Elder Devils, however, just snorted and released their cultivations. Their Spatial Powers and Divine Energies created a barrier that surrounded them and their own disciples. Only then did the weaker participants, like the twins, feel a hint of relief.

Mephisto looked at a certain point in the air together with the other Elder Devils. "Moloch, are you done?"

"Hahahaha!" It was then that space broke apart before a devil in the form of a bull appeared. "I was just checking your little guys, that's all. I see, I see... you've brought quite a good bunch this time around. Four of them seem to be especially resistant." Moloch then looked in the twins' direction, as well as two more devils there. One of them was Glanvi, the main participant of the Mephisto Clan. As for the other, it was a devil that didn't seem to be anything special. It's just that Moloch's attention caught the other participants' attention as well.

Roan got closer to Titia as he looked at that devil. 'That Moloch guy seems quite interested in that devil. Do you know him?'

Titia shook her head in response. 'I've never seen him before. But only those who can take part in the competition can be in this room, so he must be part of one of the Elder or High Devil clans.'

Moloch didn't look for long, though. He eventually came down and sat on one of the open seats there. "Fiz, come in."

The door of the hall opened again, and another trio got inside. Just like Moloch, they were all in their bull forms. "We are here, Ancestor."

Moloch nodded in satisfaction. "You probably remember Fiz. It was her who got me that victory during the first of the five contests for the Relic. Turns out she's quite good at gathering souls... or perhaps scaring them into doing what she wants? Hahaha!"

Moloch was the last of the Elder Devils that came to watch the competition, which prompted Rui to speed things up. "Alright, everyone has gathered already, so let's not waste our time. Time to decide who'll hold the Relic. Mephisto, bring it out."

The twins were surprised to hear that, not expecting the Relic to appear in front of them so soon. The other participants felt excited, though. None of them were anywhere near a thousand years old, so they hadn't seen the Relic being shown before. Nevertheless, they knew it was going to be brought out in the last contest before it started.

Mephisto faintly smiled before his hand moved. It broke through space itself and disappeared inside it for a moment. Soon after, he pulled it out while holding an object that shone a golden light. The twins couldn't tell what shape it had as their Divine Sense couldn't detect it, not to mention the light around it was too strong to allow them to see its appearance either.

*Pin!*

[Universe Foundation Fragment Detec- Error, error, error, error...]

*Arrgh!* Suddenly, the twins' heads began to ache nonstop, forcing them to fall to their knees.

Inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, Kentucky, Celis, and Luan saw how the realm itself began to distort. All of it trembled as if an earthquake of high magnitude had hit it. "What's happening?!"

*BBBzzzzzzzzz...*

That wasn't all. The Soul Gem Orb released many sparks of black and white light as it trembled even more fiercely. At that point, Kentucky's group even wondered if Sister Orb would just break apart right there and then.

"Hmm?" Mephisto obviously noticed the sudden reaction among the devil participants. Obviously, the other Elder Devils and the participants near the twins did the same.

Rui then looked at Mephisto with a dark expression as he rushed to the twins' side. "Mephisto! What are you doing?!"

Mephisto was taken aback for a moment. What had he done? He didn't do anything! Unfortunately for him, everyone there knew that Mephisto had tried to kill the twins because he found out about their great Soul Guiding abilities. Other than him, everyone else had the same idea. That Mephisto was definitely the one doing it.

In a certain way, it wasn't wrong. It was because Mephisto took out the Underworld Relic that it started to happen. Mephisto then looked at the Underworld Relic. Because he was the owner at the moment, he could feel that the Relic wasn't acting as it should. It was being affected by something.

He wasn't an idiot. The twins' sudden reaction and the Relic definitely had something to do with each other. The only problem was that the other Elder Devils wouldn't believe him. 'What's the meaning of this? Why would two devil brats resonate with the Underworld Relic?' He thought for a moment but didn't say it.

Seeing the tension in the room increasing, Mephisto could only put the Underworld Relic back into space.

The moment the Relic disappeared, the twins' headache and the system's failures stopped as well.

Author's note (13/10): I'm recovering well from the cirurgy back in the start of the month. Hope to release more chapters from now on.