Death... and me

Of course, that was nothing more than speculation. As far as the twins knew, perhaps she was never told about the Empire before and was indeed somewhere north from this place but still inside Palif. That thought was nothing more than an option between many.

"Okay. If it's possible, we will try to help you. By the way, Liza was very young, just like you. Would you be able to call one of your older sisters?"

If they could talk with someone older, the conversation would progress much faster, after all.

The girl shook her head.

"We don't have any older sister. We are all of similar age to each other."

Rean and Roan found it strange.

"That doesn't make sense. These Bloodline Trials have been going for so long already. How come there are only young girls like you?"

The girl's face turned gloomy all of a sudden. In the twins' eyes, they already had an idea of what was happening.

"I see... So you can only perform these trials while you're young. After a certain age, your sisters are brought away, right?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes..."

After some time, she looked at Roan before pledging.

"Big brother! Can you help my other sisters who disappeared as well? I'll do anything you want! I can give you the Bloodline Mark right now."

Roan sighed before saying.

"Do you know that doing that will have another human killed?"

The girl dropped her head straight away as she replied.

"I do... but I don't know them. I... I... I consider my sisters' lives more important than them!"

Surprisingly, Roan showed a rare smile as he said.

"It's good that you know your priorities."

Roan wasn't any philanthropist. He would do what he could to help those around him. As for others? He didn't have time to care about them. He wouldn't say a naive thing like 'all lives are important.' In his eyes, that's bullshit. Just how many demon beasts have they killed until now? Would one say that their lives were not important, then? Ha! What a joke! The fact that the girl prioritized the ones she liked was definitely the right decision as far as Roan was concerned.

Besides, they already knew that there was no helping to those people in the chamber. At the very least, not until they understood Soul Power more. Without a Bloodline Mark, they would never be able to understand either.

The girl's eyes glistened a little when she heard that.

"Aren't you angry that I'm taking others' lives?"

Roan snorted.

"If you don't do what they say, you will be the one to be punished or maybe even killed, no? What a joke! First, you must survive. If in the future you become able to save the other sacrifices, then that's good. However, if you don't survive now, even thinking about that will be impossible. Besides, if you refuse to do that, they will replace you with someone who will not. You are doing nothing wrong, that's for sure."

Tears began to flow out of the girl's eyes before she hugged Roan. Sure, she had been using those sacrifices' souls to create the Bloodline Marks. However, she was still a little girl. There was no way in hell that she liked to do such a thing.

"He-Hey! Get out! It's annoying!"

Sure enough, Roan wasn't used to these dramatic scenes. He was just saying what he believed, that's all.

*Pah*

*Ouch!*

Roan slightly knocked the girl's head, who finally let him go.

Rean, who was seeing everything, couldn't help but ask.

'Don't you have a heart at all?'

'Shut up! You know we don't have time for this bullshit!'

Roan then looked at the girl before saying.

"You can cry as much as you want after. For now, I need more information."

Roan continued.

"There's one thing I find strange. You do know that there are nine ranks of Bloodline Trials, right? Are you not present inside either of them?"

The girl shook her head while she rubbed the part where Roan knocked her.

"There's a Bloodline Trial where we are located... but it's a Rank Ten one."

Roan's interest was piqued at that moment.

"So there is a rank higher..."

That pretty much confirmed Rean's theory that a power bigger than the Celestial Lands and the Empires existed on this planet.

"By the way, you always say sisters. However, is there really no man doing the same thing as you?"

The girl pondered for a bit before saying.

"It's not that there isn't any boy, but they are really, really rare. We have a lot of sisters here, but almost no boys."

"Why?"

The girl continued.

"I'm not sure, but I heard the Zasfin uncles and aunties commenting before that it had something to do with purity of our soul. Sorry, big brother. I don't understand very well what it means."

Roan, on the other hand, had an idea. He also understood why only young humans could be used. However, he didn't comment on that and decided to ask something else.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the chance. Suddenly, the world around them began to change, just like what happened to Rean.

"Shit. Is our time up?"

The girl nodded with a sad expression.

"It is... big brother, I'll give you the Bloodline Mark now."

Roan was not Rean, so he didn't say something useless as you don't need to do it or anything like that. He needed the Bloodline Mark, simple as that.

"Very well. However, I can't promise you anything. First of all, I would only give it a try as payment for the Bloodline Mark. After all, I don't know you to the point where I would care much. Well, I guess it's still better than nothing."

The girl smiled as faint blue light gathered around her and intensified. This was her world, so she could feel everything, including Roan's emotions.

"Big brother likes to put up a strong front, but you're very gentle, aren't you?"

Roan narrowed his eyes as everything began to change. However, just before disappearing, he asked one last question.

"What's your name?"

The girl was taken aback for a second and replied softly.

"My name... is Luna."