Death... and me

Malaka couldn't help but ask.

"What's a Universe?"

Rean laughed in response.

"That's something you won't understand or even believe if I talk about anyway. Maybe one day, you will be able to take a glimpse of it."

Calina also wanted to ask the same question, but she gave up after hearing Rean's answer.

"Well, that's enough talk. Let's go."

At this point, Rean took Malaka and Calina's pendants from them. He simply said that he would hold on to it so that he could be the target. He was even faster than Roan with his Light Element, so he would be the best against a sneak attack. Of course, that was simply a lie. Instead, Rean sent them into the Dimensional Realm. According to Sister Orb, as long as they were there, the remaining groups with the blue shards won't be able to locate them.

With that, they continued their journey out of the Profound Abyss. However, once they were just a few hours away from the entrance, Roan asked them to stop.

"Alright, this is enough for now. Time to take care of Calina."

Roan then looked at Rean before asking.

"How is it?"

Rean, of course, knew what Roan meant.

"It's okay. I can't feel any Spiritual Senses reaching this place. Even if it was the elders outside, their Spiritual Sense would still not escape my Hidden Radar skill. I also can't feel any presence of Life Force close to us. We should be fine in this place."

Roan also called the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm with his mind.

'Sister Orb, what about you?'

[Don't worry. If there was a formation monitoring this place, I would know. There is definitely nothing like that around. They really made this Profound Abyss so that no one would try to intervene.]

Sister Orb then continued.

[However, are you sure you want to do it this way? If you go up the Abyss through another path, I can analyze the Formation and control it to open another passage elsewhere.]

Roan shook his head in response, asking.

'You don't know if you would be found, right?'

[Well, there is a risk since my processing power is kinda low for that level of Formation. Still, it wouldn't be high.]

'Forget it. Calina's death must be confirmed. I would rather not risk being found at this point, even if she doesn't get killed. After all, once she returns to the Imperial Capital, we will not have a chance to communicate with her any time soon.'

[Alright.]

Roan nodded, satisfied.

Rean and Roan then approached Calina and put a hand each on her shoulders. Still, seeing their solemn faces, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Wh-What? Does this have to do with the way to go out without being found out?"

Roan confirmed.

"Yes. However, you must understand one thing. You shall never tell anyone about what you are going to see, am I clear? If I had another choice, I would not use it since it is linked to our own secrets. Can you guarantee that?"

Calina didn't hesitate as she nodded.

"The Imperial Family might be in this situation, but one thing definitely won't change. The Imperial Family Members will never go back on their word. I promise that I won't say anything about whatever happens now."

Rean and Roan were satisfied with the answer.

As for Malaka, she looked curiously at all that happened.

"Very well. You will feel some kind of pulling force, do not resist it."

Calina nodded. Sure enough, the pulling force appeared. In the very next second, Calina disappeared from the face of the world.

Rean and Roan accepted her promise. But above all, they trusted the Soul Gem System's decision of picking her. If it had chosen her, then she should be able to at least keep her words.

*Wow!*

Malaka came running and looked everywhere around. Still, she couldn't see Calina anywhere.

"How did you do that?! Where is Calina?!"

Rean smiled as he patted Malaka's head once more.

"That is also valid for you, Malaka. You can't ever tell anyone about what you saw today, okay? Otherwise, Roan and I might really die. Calina would be no different either. Understood? That also includes your Master, Mia. If you really need to talk about something related to this with us, do not use words. Use Spiritual Sense messages instead."

Malaka was used to seeing Roan's cold face, but it was incredibly rare to see Rean doing the same. Even during dangerous moments, he wouldn't look as serious as that.

"Don't worry. I'll never say anything."

*Chick!*

Kentucky, for some reason, also agreed to those words he couldn't even understand. Rean couldn't help but laugh seeing that, saying.

"Really a smart bird. You can at least understand that we are being serious here."

Malaka immediately asked the same question again, though. It's just that she used a Spiritual Sense message this time.

'Then? Where is Calina? How come she disappeared.'

Roan glanced at her before saying.

'We will show you once we are back to the sect. For now, you just need to understand that Calina is safe and she is coming back with us.'

Malaka was surprised that the one who agreed to tell was Roan instead of Rean.

'Alright! It's a promise. You can't go back on your words either!'

Roan nodded, not minding much. Malaka had been with them for way too long already. Sooner or later, she would start formulating her own questions. He simply saw it as inevitable.

Back inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, Calina appeared just beside a bathhouse. However, she couldn't care less about that at the moment. She didn't know how, but her vision went blurry for a second. When it finally came back to normal, she was already inside this strange place.

"What happened? Rean, Roan, where are you?"

[Can you shut up? Even if you talk normally, they can hear you.]

Calina was taken aback again. Just behind her, there was a white and black ball floating. She could swear that the one who talked was that ball. Still, before she could confirm if she was going crazy, Rean's voice echoed inside the Dimensional Realm.

'Don't worry. You are fine. Once we arrive back in the sect, I'll let you come out.'

Still, Calina was just too young and curious.

"But what is this place? You haven't answered yet."

This time, it was Roan's voice that appeared.

'That's the safe place we prepared for you to stay. That's also why the elders outside will not be able to detect you. There is enough food for you to eat around as well. As for places you shouldn't go, Sister Orb will take care of it.'

Sure enough, Roan wasn't planning to let her go around doing whatever she wanted. He had long since asked Sister Orb to stop her from entering the workshops, Yin Yang bathhouse, and from touching anything of value like the Spirit Stones.

Rean laughed before telling her.

'Let me warn you. Sister Orb can totally trash Roan and me while working together, so you better not irritate her. She's a demon in the form of an Orb. Do you think Roan is scary? That's because you had never seen her in a bad mood.'

[Who's a Demon?! I'm a Soul Gem AI, okay? A Soul Gem AI!!!]

Calina once again heard the orb in front of her talking. Still, the impressive thing was that Sister Orb had no mouth. Well, it was only an Orb, after all. Instead, Sister Orb's voice echoed directly inside her mind. Spiritual Senses could do something similar, but she could tell that Sister Orb's words were transmitted in some different way.

However, what made her more fearful than anything else was Rean's words. Sister Orb can trash Rean and Roan while they were working together! Isn't that totally overpowered? She can't feel any cultivation coming from Sister Orb at all!

"He-He-Hello. I-I-I'm Calina Sa-Sasamil. T-Th-Thank you for letting m-m-me stay he-here...!"

Stronger and more fearful than Roan? What kind of reincarnation of all evil is that? Let alone the twelve-year-old Calina, even a real demon would be crying already.

[Don't mind them. I will not do anything to those who treat me well. However, it is as they said, you can't break my rules. Otherwise, even the twins won't be able to save you. Do that, and we will be best friends. By the way, how is the life of a princess? Tell me more! Rean likes to talk to me every now and then, but the black-haired dead body only contacts me when he needs it. I'm kinda bored with having only those two to talk to.]

Rean laughed as he shook his head. Obviously, Sister Orb was very interested in talking to someone else other than him and Roan. Roan didn't seem to mind Sister Orb's words either, so he immediately pulled his focus out of the Soul Gem Realm. Sister Orb would be able to take care of everything there.

"Anyway, we can go out already. If I'm not wrong, Tuve and Weren should have stepped outside a long time ago already. There shouldn't be a problem with us appearing now."

"How do you know?"

"Simple. You and Kentucky could resist the Vermilion Pool for much longer, thanks to your constitutions. However, Weren and Tuve definitely couldn't do it. They probably left as soon as they reached their limit, which should have been more than an entire day ahead."

Rean nodded.

"Well, then I guess this is the end of the Profound Abyss for us."

Roan nodded too.

"Yes. Let's get out of here."

A few hours later, Rean's group finally scaled up the Abyss, leaving it once for all.