Death... and me

They didn't go to the center of the City. Instead, they headed west, in an inconspicuous place with very few buildings. Just like the rest of the City, most of the buildings were in ruins, showing the countless years that had passed without anyone tending to them. Nonetheless, Rean was right. Fuhiro was there.

"Kijia, we are leaving," Fuhiro suddenly said, now without any Bloodline Power remaining to use. He still had his cultivation, but he definitely didn't think he could fight Lotar.

Kijia nodded, knowing things got too dangerous. They could just use one of the Altars and teleport out. Then, with the Holamenor Clan's influence, they could gather a strong group and station themselves at the Azum Dimensional Realm exit. Once Rean and Kentucky came out, they would definitely pay the price.

However, the entity snorted in response. "Leaving? There is no need to do so."

Before Fuhiro could ask why, a powerful Divine Energy fell onto his body, locking him in place. Following that, countless dark shadows appeared on the horizon, charging in their direction. That's Lotar's group. Because the entity tried to lure them further into the City, he ended up allowing them to get very close to itself as well. By the time he understood they couldn't disrupt the Spatial Manipulation Crystals, Lotar was way too close.

A few seconds later, Lotar descended in front of Fuhiro. However, Fuhiro was just an ant in his eyes. What he paid attention to was a sphere of Dark and White light inside a partially destroyed building. He was this close, but he still couldn't feel its presence even though it was right in front of him. "Queen, that should be it."

Iolanda nodded, also landing near Lotar. She looked at the Sphere and began to speak. "Are you the so-called entity of Kanlas City, the one that trapped our race in this Azum Dimensional Realm?"

Rean and Kentucky were there as well. As soon as they saw the Sphere, they immediately recognized the power of Yin and Yang, Light and Dark, of the Universe Foundation Fragment. They had quite a few of them in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, after all. The only reason the system hadn't had a reaction was because Rean and Roan were too far from each other, so the system's detection power couldn't reach the outside world.

"Hehe!" The voice of the entity echoed in the surroundings. "That's correct. I was the one who got your ancestors to sign that pact that bound your race all those years ago. Until you open a breach in this Azum Dimensional Realm for me to leave, you won't be able to leave yourself."

"You seem quite relaxed." Iolanda narrowed her eyes. "But I guess it makes sense. You lived in this place for so long, so you definitely have some countermeasures in case you lose the power of your formation."

"Countermeasures?" The Sphere asked back. "I admit, you coming into my City and using the Chasm's power to keep my formation occupied was a great plan. I didn't expect it would be possible while I had the Holamenor Clan with me here. Yet, you succeeded. Very good. If possible, I truly didn't want to come out myself. Yet, seems like I need to show who is in charge to put you back to work."

While Iolanda and the entity talked, Kentucky glanced at Rean and touched his shoulder to speak through Divine Sense. 'Rean... that's definitely a fragment, right?'

Rean nodded, not looking very well. 'No doubt there.'

'Then...' Kentucky couldn't help but get nervous. 'Is that a Fragment with... a sentience?'

Rean bitterly smiled. 'It seems to be exactly that.'

A Fragment with a sentience. They had found the Fragments might have different traits, but this was the first one they had ever found with a sentience. Yet, it quickly made sense in Rean's head. Sister Orb was once the Universe's Sentience, and she mentioned the Universe might already have a new sentience now that she left. Besides, there were other things in the Universe that also gained sentience, even if rare. Why couldn't a Fragment gain sentience as well?

'Sister Orb, how do we deal with the sentience of a Fragment?' Rean couldn't help but ask. 'Do we force it to merge with the fragments we got already? But if we do that, would this sentience be transferred to the Fragments we have? If that happens, how strong wouldn't this thing become?'

[That's... complicated.] Sister Orb was also surprised by that discovery. [However, you definitely can't allow this Fragment to merge with the others in this state. Just like you said, chances are this sentience will take control of all the Fragments we have in our hands. Its strength will also be something we can't fight against, even if it is inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.]

'So we need to kill its sentience... right?' Rean asked again.

[That's the safest option.] Sister Orb agreed. [As to how to destroy it... It's hard to tell. After all, the sentience is inside the Fragment, and a Fragment of the Foundation is anything but easy to destroy.]

'Destroy?' Rean got puzzled. 'But we need the Fragment, don't we? If we destroy it...'

[Don't worry,] Sister Orb cut there. [The Fragment is already a broken piece of the whole thing. If you destroy it, you are basically breaking it into even smaller parts. As long as these Fragments still exist, you can merge them back together.]

Rean sighed in relief. 'Alright... Now, how the hell are we going to destroy a Framgent? I wonder if even a Semi-Celestial has enough power to do such a thing.'

*Rumble...*

Suddenly, the entire City began to tremble. All the energy in the surroundings is charged into the Black and White Sphere like torrents, quickly filling the Sphere.

Lotar wasn't going to sit there and watch, though. He had already sealed Fuhiro's cultivation, so he wasn't a problem anymore. Seeing that, he immediately charged as his Dark Red Flames burst forward with his race's special corrosive laws.

*Boom!*

The Sphere was quickly covered in them, making it hard to see anything inside. However, the Sphere continued to absorb more energy even within the flames.

*Roar!*

Suddenly, Lotar's flames were forced back, while the White and Dark Sphere changed shape, taking the form of another beast. It looked exactly like the Light Beasts, although it wasn't made of Light Element only. It was equally filled with Dark and Light instead.