Death... and me

Suddenly, in the place where Sunkan Planet exploded, something began to happen. A small sphere of black and white light took form in the middle of that chaos that the others left behind. That sphere began to accumulate Dark and Light Elements until it reached the size of a fist.

[First point of worlds connection acquired.]

[Initializing merging sequence...]

The black and white orb suddenly grew a few strands that pierced through the fabric of space. Those strands continued to multiply nonstop, doing the same thing. No one knew where these things were connecting to.

[Completed.]

[Initializing Dual Worlds Attachment.]

Suddenly, even more of those strands came out of the black and white orb. However, this time, it didn't pierce through the fabric of space. Instead, they spread all around the area.

[One planet, two worlds.]

[All connections established.]

[Using one World to secure the other.]

[Soul Gem Universal Worlds Attachment Completed.]

Right after, an enormous Spatial Fluctuation took form before everything disappeared without a trace. Every single piece of the Destructed World, up to the last grain of sand, simply vanished! In the end, not even Rean and Roan knew what happened here, let alone where the whole thing moved to. But one thing was certain, Sunkan Planet and its inhabitants were far from being just a memory.

Somewhere else in the cultivator's half of the Universe, there was a planet covered in white. Its name was Culo. In the places where the ground couldn't be seen from space, there were multiple clouds where snowstorms raged. This planet was at the very end of what could be said as the orbit suitable for life in this solar system. Because of that, this planet was mostly covered in snow all year round. The only time it showed a few patches of green was during the first month of its twenty-seven-month-long trip. Yes, this planet takes twenty-seven months to complete one turn around its sun.

Even though the conditions on this planet were harsh, it was far from being lifeless. It had its own cities, countries, and even three Empires. Of course, compared to the Sukan Planet where the twins lived until now, it wasn't as populated, having less than one-tenth of the number of living beings. It couldn't be blamed since life was much harder to thrive in this place.

In the Palif Empire, there was a country called Tasman. It couldn't be said to be a big or a small country as it sat somewhere halfway from the Empire's border on the west side to the Empire's capital in the center. Its influence was also in the middle when compared to others.

In this same country, in the middle of a mountain range close to Danve City, a fluctuation of space suddenly appeared. However, nothing happened after that, and the place returned to the previous peace soon after. After all, there were no snowstorms at the moment.

As one could imagine, it was in this place where the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm reappeared. It's just that the twins and the others were still inside the Dimensional Realm, so no one could see anything.

Inside the Dimensional Realm, no more than a few seconds had passed since they saw Sukan Planet being blasted away. Everyone could now see the scene around them since Rean and Roan didn't turn off the view of the outside world.

"This... What just happened?"

Immediately, everyone looked at the guy who asked this question. It turns out that the person Rean last saved was Agis Kexidor, the Red Color disciple that joined the sect at the same time as Rean, Roan, and Malaka. Agis would usually stay out of the sect, training with his master. However, on that day, he had just returned to the sect to report one of the missions he had concluded.

Agis Kexidor was also a member of the inner sect, just like Rean and Roan. Naturally, his room was also located there. Through sheer coincidence, he was passing by Rean's house when the silver swirl had appeared in outer space before the attack came down. Rean ended up taking him into the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm after that.

All of a sudden, Agis got up and stepped back before bringing his sword out.

"Rean! It was you who attacked me, right?"

Rean still had an ugly expression as he nodded.

"I did. However, I had no other choice. If I didn't bring you inside straight away, you would have died back there."

Agis was just about to ask what he meant when out of nowhere, Calina stood up in a flash as well.

"Ah! That, that! The red light, the big spherical thing, the huge explosion that blasted it away. Was that... Was that... Was that our world?!"

Malaka, Calina, Qia, and Agis's complexions immediately paled. Sure enough, one didn't need to be a genius to reach that conclusion. After all, they saw the red light coming at them before Rean and Roan brought everyone into the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.

Still, Agis shook his head.

"Impossible! First of all, how do you know it was our world? Have you ever seen a world from far away before? Can you guarantee that it was really a world?"

Rean and Roan looked at each other, not finding it strange. The cultivation world was quite medieval. Naturally, people like Malaka and the others didn't know what a 'planet' was. For them, the world might as well be completely flat, not round.

'Just what the hell was that?'

Roan shook his head.

'How would I know? We need to ask the Soul Gem System.'

Rean then took a deep breath. He was obviously affected by what had happened since he knew that everyone in Sukan Planet definitely died. Still, he had to think about the actual situation and whether it would happen again or not.

'Let's deal with everyone first.'

However, just as Rean and Roan were about to talk, another voice came out.

[That was indeed your world. Unfortunately, it is now gone.]

"Sister Orb!"

Calina, Malaka, and the twins immediately recognized the black and white orb floating in their direction.

Agis and Qia were taken aback, though. They had never seen anything like that. However, Agis gritted his teeth and ignored that fact for the moment.

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

Sister Orb looked at him before asking.

[Rean, Roan, why did you bring this guy together with you? He's so annoying.]

Agis's expression turned darker as he immediately thrust his sword against Sister Orb.

Seeing that, Rean and Roan shook their heads as they simultaneously thought.

'Brother... that's the wrong move.'

*Boom! Bang! Pow! Crash!*

Within a few seconds, a pummeled Agis could be found on the ground of the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Agis was definitely talented, having reached the Middle Stage of the Core Formation Realm at his age. However, he was definitely not a match to any of the twins. On the other hand, the twins were definitely not a match to Sister Orb. Naturally, the end result of his actions was already set in stone.

[Hmph! Can't even recognize the difference between Heaven and Earth. You are thousands of years too early if you think you can even fight me.]

Qia immediately stepped back, afraid that the orb might kill her. However, Rean put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sister Orb won't kill anyone. Just don't try to fight her. It's bad for your health."

Malaka and Calina nodded vigorously. The two girls also knew just how strong Sister Orb could be inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.

Roan ignored all of that, though.

"Sister Orb, what was all of that? How did the planet we came from explode just like that? Was it another Universe Restraint? Also, why didn't you answer our call back then?"

Everyone's interest was immediately piqued, including the unable to move Agis, who was still conscious.

[First, I couldn't answer you two because the Soul Gem System took control of everything as it used everything to save you. It couldn't spare the processing power necessary to let my program work.]

Other than Rean and Roan, no one else knew what Sister Orb was talking about.

[Second, that was not a Universe Restraint. It seems like the power related to what happened back then found the Soul Gem System's location. However, the Soul Gem System can detect danger when it's approaching. That being said, the enemy couldn't come after us straight away since it would give us more than enough time to flee.]

[The enemy then decided to send an attack to try and destroy the system. I must mention that transferring energy through space is several times easier than a living soul. The enemy was basically betting on the fact that the attack would be faster than the Soul Gem System's reaction.]

Roan continued to ask.

"How did the enemy find the system? Also, will it happen again?"

[It shouldn't be possible. The Soul Gem System's concealment abilities are incredibly powerful. Unless the enemy is close to you, there's no way to detect it. Also, the higher your cultivation, the stronger this ability becomes.]

Rean then asked.

"Then, how could th-"

"Ah!"

At that moment, Rean thought about a possibility.

"The Laan City's Artifact Spirit!"

[Correct. Back then, you and Roan did get very close to the Artifact Spirit, who sensed the Soul Gem System's existence. However, since the artifact had no malicious intent, the system didn't do anything. Unfortunately, it seems like someone had used it to find the Soul Gem System's location. That's the only possible explanation.]

If Old Worm was here now, he would be shaken to the core by this revelation. In the end, Old Worm's grandfather was right. The way to save the Sasamil Empire from this calamity was really on the northeast side of the Empire. As long as he had stopped the twins from going to Laan City, the Artifact Spirit wouldn't have left. Naturally, no one would find it, nor would anyone use it to find the Soul Gem System's location. Unfortunately, Old Worm had no way to predict such a thing.

Finally, Qia couldn't hold back anymore.

"But, but... Was that really our world? I don't care about all the things you guys were talking about. I just want to know if everyone really died as we've seen. That can't be true, right?"

"This..."

Rean didn't know what to say. In a certain way, it was their fault that Sukan Planet ended like that.

Roan seemed to not care. However, if one looked closely, they would see him pressing his fingers so hard against the skin of his palm that the nails pierced the skin. He might not show it, but he cared about his parents in that world. Not to mention his little sister, who also died there.

Sister Orb knew that staying silent wouldn't help, so...

[Let's not pretend that nothing happened. Yes, that world was destroyed.] or so they thought since even Sister Orb didn't know the truth. [Nothing more, nothing less.]