Death... and me

Rean flashed for a moment and reappeared on Tabbris' side, puzzled. He then looked ahead and could see the stain of blood floating in the air. Not surprisingly, the stain of blood was at the same height as Tabbris' head. "Did you hit a wall?"

Tabbris tried to focus as he nodded. "I definitely hit so-something... senior. Ouch..."

Rean pressed a finger on Tabbris' head and activated his Instant Recovery Skill. In a second, Tabbris was back to normal. Rean just ignored him, though. Instead, he stepped forward and moved his hand. Only then was he able to feel some kind of invisible barrier preventing his hand from going forward. "Seems like you hit this thing."

Tabbris didn't quite like to see his blood there, so he used his Divine Energy to clear it before touching the barrier as well. "This is weird. I didn't sense we passing through this barrier before."

Rean agreed with him. "Me neither. Say, when you found that Nascent Soul Light Beast and started fighting it, did you cross this point, or were you further back?"

"I was much further back," Tabbris understood what Rean wanted to say. "Because of that, I can't tell if this Barrier was already here before or not."

Rean pondered a bit and turned his attention back to the Mirro Globe in the distance. Right after, he turned his attention back to the barrier. 'Let's see how strong is this thing.'

Rean pressed his hand against the barrier and silently circulated his Sky Energy inside his body. At the same time, he used as much strength as his Starlight Body could muster. Without holding back, the area began to tremble... and the barrier began to move backward. 'Seems like it isn't strong enough to fight against my power... Is it bending to try to compensate for it?'

"Senior!" Tabbris then called Rean's attention as he pointed to Rean's back.

Rean turned around and noticed that the Mirror Globe just stopped moving. From the looks of it, the Mirror Globe moved the exactly same amount of distance that Rean pushed the invisible barrier just now. "Oh... so that's how it is. The Barrier and the Globe as one single entity. If I push the barrier forward, the globe moves as it is the center of the barrier. It seems like it didn't bend then."

Rean thought about it a little. 'Should I just release my full power and see if I can break through the barrier? However, I'm already in the Space-Time Realm. Is it really okay to release my full power in a Dimensional Realm made for low-level Angels? I might even kill a few of them if things go wrong...'

But then he remembered. 'Oh, right... No one can really die in here. They just get sent back to the Azum Dimensional Realm entrance.'

Rean didn't attach the barrier straight away, though. He decided to check the Mirror Globe first.

Yet, just as he thought about doing it, the Mirror Globe shone with White Light. The surface then seemed to transform into some kind of reflective liquid from where several Light Beasts surfaced. In a matter of seconds, several tens of Light Beasts landed on the ground between Rean and the Mirror Globe.

"So... is this Globe giving birth to these new Light Beasts?" Rean wondered. "No, perhaps it is just teleporting them from somewhere else. Oh well, whatever."

Rean once again summoned several Wind Blades, sending them against the Light Beasts that just appeared.

*Swish, swish, swish...*

*Crash, Clang, Boom!*

Yet, the result was different from before. A few of the Light Beasts did indeed die, but their bodies weren't easily slashed in half like before. Not only that, a few Light Beasts from the back were able to hold against Rean's Wind Blades, although they received quite some grievous injuries that would make it impossible for them to continue battling.

"These ones are quite stronger than the previous beasts. My Wind Blades should have easily killed anything below the Saint Realm with ease. Yet, seven of these beasts survived. That shows they have a power equivalent to an Initial Stage Saint Realm Angel Beast, more or less."

"Initial Stage Saint Realm?!" Tabbris's heart skipped a beat after hearing that. Such strength would be enough to kill him ten times over.

Rean summoned a few more Wind Blades and quickly finished the job before telling Tabbris. "Well, aren't you lucky? The Light Beast Cores inside these ones should have even more Light Element and Divine Energy. You should go ahead and collect them."

Tabbris' fear instantly disappeared. How could he still feel fear after hearing that? "Thank you, senior."

Rean nodded and simply walked to the Mirror Globe. Stopping in front of it, Rean pressed his hand forward, touching the surface. Yet, it wasn't like a liquid anymore. It was now solid, seeming very resistant. 'Such a weird thing... First of all, is this really just an Illusory World? I would have felt some differences by now, yet everything looks 100% real to me. Sister Orb, what do you think?'

[As far as I can tell, you look very much alive to me. But then again, you and Roan are too far from each other. My senses of the outside world barely work at all. The only thing I can confirm is that your soul is fine. There is nothing harmful happening to it.]

'I wish I could use the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm now...' If Rean could, he would simply send this Mirror Globe into the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and examine it there. 'Well, it is not guaranteed I would be able to do that either...' he thought.

Rean then used his Divine Energy and grabbed Tabbris, who had just finished collecting the cores. He put a Divine Energy barrier to protect the young angel and raised his Dark Star Sword. 'My sword came with me, so I'm more inclined to think I'm not an illusion but the real deal. For now, I will face this place like this.'

Finally, he thrustted his sword forward, not holding back at all.

'Death Style, First Form, Stellar Piercer!'