Death... and me

Around a day later, Kentucky finally caught up with Rean. Naturally, Rean was being dragged along with Duran, so he also saw the guy. "This..."

Celis narrowed his eyes since he recognized the Zasfin, instantly muttering, "What a pain in the ass."

Duran, who obviously noticed their group as well, couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Hahaha! To think I would meet with the World Swallowing Cedar here. Should I call this my lucky day?"

Celis snorted in response, telling Duran, "Is that so? What? Just because I lost my cultivation, you think I'll do whatever you want? I have long since decided that I would simply kill myself if I ever got captured again. But first, you will have to reach here where we are."

One must remember that Kentucky could fly because he was a bird, and Celis was with him. Rean and Duran couldn't, so they only watched from the ground. As high as Duran's cultivation might be, Kentucky was just way too high in the skies for him to attack.

Duran didn't seem to mind Celis's words, though. "What does that have to do with me? I couldn't care less whether you kill yourself or not." Duran then looked at Rean before continuing, "However, if you don't care about his well-being, you should do what I say."

Rean shrugged his shoulders after hearing that. "Guess I'm fucked."

Duran didn't understand what Rean meant when suddenly, Kentucky turned around and began to fly away, saying, "Ha! So what if you capture Rean? I would save him if I could, but getting close to you only means my death. Instead of having both of us dead, I better let Rean die alone. Well then, until next time."

Duran couldn't help but ask back after hearing Kentucky's response, "Do you really think I won't kill him?"

Celis shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "To be honest, I don't think you will. After all, Rean is one of the Formation Masters that would help out in the opening of the portal to the Realm of Gods. Anyways, if you don't kill him, make sure to protect him well. Let's go, Kentucky."

"On it!" Kentucky agreed with Celis as they disappeared in the distance.

Duran's mouth could not help but twitch as he saw Kentucky and Celis fly even higher and further from the two of them. They simply didn't care about Rean at all! "These friends of yours aren't very friendly..."

Rean sighed in response, telling him, "We're not a bunch of good samaritans, you know? We knew the risks that we were going to face when we came into the Bestial Sacred Ground, so we had long since decided on what we would do in a situation like this one. I don't blame them for their choice since I would have done exactly the same if I were in their place. Just like Kentucky said, I would try to save him if it was possible. But with you here, I wouldn't even give it a second thought before leaving."

Duran had to admit it at least made sense. "Well, I probably wouldn't do anything different either. Still, why would you tell me that you could find them here if you knew they wouldn't help you?" It was then that Duran noticed. "I see...you knew they would be here, but you didn't know if they would have company behind them. If a Stage Nine Demon Beast or one of the Divine Demon Beasts were here, then you would truly have a chance."

Rean didn't deny that, saying in response, "Too bad my gamble didn't pay off. Kentucky and Celis were alone. Well, it's already surprising that those two are together to start with."

Duran wondered what he should do at the moment as he kicked another suicidal demon beast away. "Where do you think we should go now?"

"How should I know?" Rean then looked into the distance. "Why don't you try heading to the region below the centermost star? The Blood Pond was in the center of the Bestial Sacred Ground before, right? It might be somewhere there as well."

Duran agreed with Rean's plan. Of course, there was one other thing he knew about Kentucky and Celis's departure. Now that they knew Rean was under his custody, they could find some help for him.

Unsurprisingly, Duran's hunch was right. Once Kentucky and Celis flew far away that even Duran couldn't see them anymore, they finally started to talk about what they saw. "We need to find Senior Phex or some other Divine Demon Beast."

Celis nodded. "Duran hasn't killed Rean until now, which means he might be thinking of using him as a hostage. That's a good thing since that means Rean won't die anytime soon. Besides, he at least knows that Rean is one of the Formation Masters. If he doesn't want to decrease his chances of leaving this world, he won't kill Rean. In a certain way, it's good that Duran was the one to find Rean since he's the strongest Zasfin. No one on the Zasfins' side would be better than him when it comes to protecting Rean."

After that, he asked Kentucky something else. "Can you feel Roan's presence? Or is he still too far away?"

Kentucky shook his head as he answered, "He's still too far away, so I can't feel his presence at all. However, I know Rean and Roan can feel each other's presence from anywhere. Duran doesn't know I can feel Rean's presence, so I'll tag along with him until Roan appears in my perception. After all, Roan should be trying to find Rean."

Celis thought that it was a good plan. "That's good. Just make sure to keep flying as high as you can to avoid attention."

Kentucky agreed with him. "Sure!"

The Minokawa did exactly that. He waited for the gap between him and Duran to be over a few hundred kilometers before he started to follow Rean's presence.

Way further away from there, Roan was also following Rean's presence. While doing so, he could not help but think, 'Weird. Rean is moving way faster than I am. He's definitely being carried by someone else, but who?' Roan shook his head and put those thoughts behind him after that. 'No point thinking about it now. Let's catch up to him first.'

However, Roan ended up finding something else on his way. Something he didn't expect to find in this place at all. "A... city?"