Death... and me
chapter-2008

As Rui traveled through the space with the twins, Roan used their Soul Connection to complain. 'What if that girl had opened her mouth?'

'Don't worry.' Rean didn't seem too worried. 'She'll definitely understand that the Light Element used for the concealment came from me. However, she won't cause us any trouble. She'll probably spend a lot more time thinking about what you said about souls. Anyway, that's about it.'

Roan glanced at him for a moment but didn't say anything else. Just the fact that Rui kept his word and brought them to the Swamp of No Return was already a testament to the Light Devil Clan's trust.

Suddenly, another breach in space opened ahead of them as they stepped out. The twins looked around but couldn't see anything. In front of them was nothing more than an endless patch of black and dark land, which was very common in the Underworld. "Where is the swamp?"

Rui faintly smiled and flew forward. It was then that he stopped and made a motion with his hand. Right in front of the twins, an invisible barrier split apart, causing a huge amount of Dark Element to blast against their faces.

However, it wasn't just the Dark Element. Roan could feel that the decaying properties of the Dark Element were much, much more intense. It was to the point that even some weaker devils wouldn't be able to resist it. Of course, Roan was the epitome of Dark Element, and Rean could use it, so it didn't affect them.

Rui jumped inside the breach, which closed behind it a few seconds later. From the looks of it, it had an auto-recovery feature that repaired any breaches made to it. Rui ignored that, though. "Look, that's what you've been looking for."

In response, Rean and Roan paid attention to the front once again and were finally able to see the swamp. It was obvious that the barrier impeding it from expanding also had some concealment abilities. This time, however, what they saw was the swamp that extended as far as their eyes could see.

'How is it, Sister Orb?' Rean asked her straight away. 'Can you feel the fragment?'

Sister Orb checked as Rean asked. [Not really, unfortunately.]

'Does that mean the swamp doesn't have one of the fragments?' Roan asked back.

[That's not it. I definitely believe what causes the swamp to expand is the power of the fragment. But because of that, that means we're probably incredibly far away from it. We're so far that the system can't detect it from this distance. One thing is sure, though. I can feel the power of space acting weirdly in this place. It seems to have been mixed with the Dark Element and its higher decaying power.]

'Mixed?' Rean was surprised to hear that. 'You mean like what experts at the Elemental Space Realm can do?' That thought reminded Rean of the first being they met capable of doing it, the Salamander back in the Lost Star Realm. They had met a few others after that too. However, this place was doing the fusion on its own instead of someone doing it with their cultivation.

[More or less. It's just that since a Fragment of the Universe is involved, it's causing the expansion of this swamp. In other words, you could say that what the fragment is doing isn't exactly the same as those at the Elemental Space Realm and above do. Of course, I might be wrong here. Also... I can feel that there's something more, but I can't understand it yet. I'll tell you when I find out.]

'That's enough for a start,' Roan replied.

Rui obviously didn't know that the twins were talking to Sister Orb. Instead, he tried to convince them not to head in. "This is as far as I will carry you. If I go further than this, there's a chance that even I will be lost in this place. It wasn't a joke when I said that even an Elder Devil was lost in this swamp. I recommend you give up on the idea and come back with me instead."

Rean shook his head in response. "It's fine, Senior Rui. This is exactly the place we wanted to come to. There's no better place to test our abilities. If we can't escape in the end, then that's it."

Rui looked at him, not believing his words at all. "You don't really think I buy your 'testing our abilities' bullshit, right? You're definitely here for some other reason."

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. "That's up for senior Rui to decide, not us. We'll still head inside unless senior decides to stop us here by force."

Rui narrowed his eyes for a moment but shook his head in the end. "I'm not a babysitter. If you want to die, then, by all means, go ahead. In the end, this payment of yours cost me nothing, and you got me the Underworld Relic, so it was worth it." Rui then turned around but stopped a second later. "Here, take this."

It was then that Rean and Roan received a glowing Golden Thoughts Transmission Talisman. Seeing that they caught the talismans, Rui continued. "Tch... in the end, I truly don't like the idea of receiving something for such a low price. In the future, you can use the talisman to contact the Light Devil Clan. As long as your request isn't anything absurd, I'll have the clan help you with it."

With that, Rean and Roan immediately sent the talismans into the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. As long as the talisman was there, it couldn't be used for tracking. Just to be on the safe side.

Lastly, Rui explained something else. "As for how you can come out, just walk through the barrier. It was made to stop the swamp's expansion, but it won't stop you from coming out."

With that, Rui moved in the barrier's direction and passed right through it. The wall truly did nothing to him.

Rean smiled and looked back in the swamp's direction. "Well then, shall we go?"

Roan nodded in agreement. "It was about time already."

*Vup, vup...*

And just like that, the twins dashed into the Swamp of No Return.