Death... and me
chapter-2007

"Really?!" Rean was taken aback for a moment. After hearing Rui's inquiry about their connection to the Underworld Relic, he thought Rui would try to hold them captive until he was satisfied. "That was way simpler than I thought."

"Why?" Rui glanced back at Rean.

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well, the Underworld Relic is such an important item for our devil races, no? If you thought we had some connection with it, then it wouldn't have been strange if you kept us locked or something like that."

Tapir, who was listening to everything so far, couldn't help but ask the question in everyone's minds. "Clan Master, what is he talking about?"

Rui thought for a moment as he looked at the elders in the room. After a bit of pondering, he eventually decided to tell them. "After Mephisto passed the Underworld Relic to me, he also told me that the Relic had reacted to these brothers. Some kind of resonance, according to him. At that time, I didn't believe it since Gean and Doan had been attacked by Mephisto in the first place. Seeing the pain they had gone through, I thought it was just Mephisto's doing once again."

Rui then narrated the rest of the story, telling them how nothing happened the second time the twins saw the Relic. It's just that at that time, Rui was the owner, not Mephisto.

"This..." Tapir narrowed his eyes for a moment. "They only suffered when Mephisto was the owner. Now that Clan Master has it, nothing happened. It does sound like an attack made by Mephisto using the Underworld Relic."

Fagund agreed with him. "I think so too. He tries to kill our members when he finds out their soul-guiding strength. Then, that thing happens. It feels a lot like he's messing around with us."

Rui nodded. "That's the conclusion I reached as well. But then again, I don't see what he had to gain from this resonance story."

Roan decided that it was better to hurry things up. "Whether you guys believe Mephisto or not doesn't matter. The point here is that we upheld our part of the deal. Can we go to the Swamp of No Return already?"

Hearing that, the meeting hall went silent. Rui began to receive quite a few Divine Sense messages, asking him to try and find a reason to keep the twins. But then again, forcing them to join the Light Devil Clan wouldn't be an option. After all, what would they have to gain if they couldn't use their strength and talent? That's why Rui had decided to keep a good relationship with the twins instead. Their Light Devil Clan had always been different than the other devils, after all.

"Are you sure you don't want to join our Light Devil Clan? You truly have a lot to gain from it. Our resources aren't that much different from the other Elder Devil clans in the Underworld, you know?" With that, he asked one more time.

Fagund, who had known the twins since the Realm of Gods, also insisted. "He is right, Gean, Doan. You know I'm the next Light Devil Clan leader. I can say with certainty that we'll treat you very well, even when Clan Master steps down for me."

"You brat, that will still take many years." Rui got a little angry as Fagund's words made him feel old.

Surprisingly, Rean and Roan still shook their heads. "We have our reasons to go. However, it is a fact that the Light Devil Clan treated us well. If there comes a day you need our help, we don't mind coming to your aid. That's the most we can do for now." That wasn't a lie. Until this point, the Light Devil Clan did everything they said they would.

Seeing that the twins were adamant, Rui finally decided to leave with them. "Okay. Only the Elder Devils will be able to bring you inside the barrier surrounding the Swamp of No Return, so I'll bring you there myself. As I mentioned before, there's a formation stopping the swamp from expanding, so it isn't easy to get inside. I still think you two are just asking for your deaths, though."

The other elders tried to convince Rui once again, but he just raised his hand. "I've made up my mind. We're different from the other devil clans. As the connection between Heaven and the Underworld, our clan must stay true to our words. They got us the Underworld Relic, so I will get them to the swamp. That's all."

Soon after, Rui used his Spatial Powers to grab the twins once again. "I don't want to waste my time anymore, so we're leaving straight away. Is that fine with you two?"

Rean and Roan couldn't ask for more. "Of course! Let's go there!"

Fagund sighed in response before bidding his farewells. "I hope to see you again. Thanks for everything."

The twins nodded, and finally, Rui opened a breach in space, disappearing inside with the twins.

The elders in the hall began to discuss what had just happened straight away. As for Fagund, he just shook his head and decided to leave. However, it was then that he saw that Titia was still there. Not only that, she seemed to be deeply pondering over something. "Is everything okay?" Yet, it didn't seem she heard Fagund's words. Without much choice, Fagund touched her shoulder, catching her attention.

"Ah!" Titia jolted for a moment. Only then did she notice Fagund there. It's just that Rean and Roan were now gone. "W-Where are those brothers?"

Fagund looked at her with a weird expression. "They just left with the Clan Master. It happened right in front of your eyes. Didn't you see it?"

"I..." Titia truly didn't. That's because all her focus was on her hand.

Fagund noticed that she held a medallion in her hand. "This... Isn't this that medallion that hid your group in the competition? The one that can make you invisible to the eye and Divine Sense?"

Titia nodded in response. "Yes... Gean gave it to me while you were talking. He said it was a gift."

Fagund, obviously, became very interested in it. After all, it could use their Light Element, which they were good at. "Nice, perhaps we can reproduce it here in the clan. It would be of great use during the next competitions to decide the following Underworld Relic holder."

Titia bitterly smiled after hearing that. "I don't think it'll be of much use, though."

"Why is that?" Naturally, Fagund found her words strange.

Titia then passed the medallion to Fagund. "Try to infuse your Light Element in it."

Fagund nodded and did as Titia asked. In theory, it should generate concealment just like the one that happened in the competition. However... "This..."

The thing was, nothing happened at all. No, to be more precise, something did happen. The medallion lit up... and that was basically it. "What's the meaning of this?"

Titia finally told Fagund what she had been thinking all this time. "I'm absolutely sure this is the medallion Rean used in the competition. However, it has no concealment abilities at all."

"That's impossible!" Fagund refused to believe it. "I saw how the Light Element creat-" It was then that Fagund understood what Titia was trying to say. "The one who used Light Element was not the medallion..."

Titia nodded. "Indeed. The one who used that Light Element ability was Gean. Gean and Doan can also use Light Element, just like us, Light Devils. Or so I think..."

After that, Fagund looked back at where the twins had disappeared with Rui. "Just... who are you?"