Death... and me
chapter-2818

When the replica of the foundation, the integration pillar, was created, it absorbed all Fragments inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm at once. The same thing happened when they got the Fragments from the Leviathans. However, the Fragment inside the Underworld Relic had a part of the system inside, so it wasn't absorbed by the integration pillar straight away. Inside, the system focused on removing it from the Fragment first.

Rean and Roan's group weren't surprised by this. After all, they have known for a long time that the Fragment of the Underworld Relic had that part of the system inside. They just never had the chance to acquire it. The only doubt was what would happen once they did. (Chapter 1999)

Outside, Kafan concluded the deal with the Semi-Celestials of the Devil Races. "Alright, this concludes our little negotiation."

Soul Gem didn't didn't waste time, either. "Kafan, Gragatou, Huban, let's go. I need to integrate these Fragments into my project. The faster we over with it, the better it will be." "I'll be staying in the Underworld for a while." Yet, Kafan suddenly spoke.

Gragatou and Huban were taken aback. "You will? Why?"

"This was my home in the past, so there is nothing wrong with it, right?" Kafan spoke. "In any case, Soul Gem has the Fragments now. Just scout him back to the Realm of Gods. I have my own agenda here."

Gragatou and Huban looked at each other. In the end, they just accepted it. "Alright. If you say so."

Soul Gem didn't seem to mind it. "Just leave him. Let's go back."

Huban, Gragatou, and Soul Gem left straight away. Kilindou went with them so that the formation in the Temporal Path could be opened, too.

In the end, only Kafan, Black Locust, Turen, Sansara, and Roan remained.

"Kafan," Black Locust narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Kafan turned around to leave as well. "You know very well I'm originally from the Underworld. I feel better staying here than in the Realm of Gods. Besides, I'm taking my time to train my disciple, Roan, here. He also has Dark Element Affinity, so the Underworld is the best place for that."

Whether Black Locust trusted him or not didn't matter. They wouldn't start a fight against Kafan for no reason. Besides, Kafan staying in the Underworld might be even better in case it is suddenly attacked. "Suit yourself. Just don't cause any trouble."

"I'll do my best," Kafan smiled and opened a Spatial Gate, quickly leaving the area.

Turen and took his leave. He still had several years of his pact with the Devils, so there wasn't a need to worry about him.

Finally, only Sansara and Black Locust stayed.

"Should we keep an eye on Kafan?" Sansara asked, also skeptical about Kafan's reason for staying in the Underworld.

"How?" Black Locust retorted. "He is a Semi-Celestial, just like us, and a much older one at that. It is impossible for us to watch him without him noticing. Just let him be. We have something much more important to do."

Both of them went through their memories and the contents of the Death Energy creation, as well as the merging of Death Energy, Divine Energy, and Soul Power. For them, that was an absolute bargain, especially since the Underworld Relic seemed to work fine with just any Fragment. A moment later, Sansara left to prepare everything. They would gather Death Energy in their own way.

Far away from Black Locust's home, Kafan exited the Spatial Gate, followed by Roan. "Let's enter the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm."

The two disappeared from their location, appearing on the planet of the Dimensional Realm near Rean.

"How are the things?" Kafan asked swiftly. He knew the UnderworldRelic Fragment had a part of the system, so he was worried about what could happen after acquiring it. However, Rean just bitterly smiled. In front of him, two Fragments could be seen. One of them was inactive, while the other was near the Control Orb and seemed to be transferring some kind of weird energy. "They had been like that since the System's announcement. There have been no more mentions after that. Sister Orb is also not answering, so I guess we can only wait now."

Their group just stayed there, observing the Fragment and the Control Orb. Finally, at exactly ten minutes after the Fragment was acquired, the system's voice echoed in the twins' minds again.

[Progress: 0.01%]

"0.01...%?" Rean sighed in realization. "This thing will take forever!"

Roan immediately lost his interest. "Forget it. Since we can only wait, let's wait. Sister Orb, are you truly not there?"

The Control Orb seemed to tremble a little after Roan called out. However, no voice came out of it. "Seems like she is truly trapped in there for the time being," Roan concluded.

Kafan was puzzled, though. He couldn't hear the System Messages. "What are you talking about?"

Roan gave Kafan a quick explanation. "And that's about it."

"I see..." Kafan nodded. "Let's wait until another ten minutes have passed. If it goes up by another 0.01%, then we will know more or less how long it will take."

The twins nodded and waited the next minutes there, doing nothing. Sure enough, after another ten minutes precisely, the system's voice echoed in the twins' minds again.

[Progress: 0.02%]

"There is no doubt," Roan nodded. "If the system continues with this trend, it will go up 0.01% every ten minutes."

"That means the system will continue like this for the next 69 days..." Rean felt helpless. He was extremely curious, but nothing would happen before that.

Roan just waved his hand and used his control over the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm to create a barrier around Sister Orb and the Fragments. "Just leave them be. We already concluded our first objective, which was to acquire the two Fragments in the Semi-Celestial Devils' hands. Time to work on our second objective."

Kafan agreed with Roan. "That's why I'm here. Let's pay a visit to that little fly."