Death... and me

Only then did Frin stop and pay attention to the Dark Element rampaging in his body. Of course, the level of the Dark Element was too low to resist Frin's Spiritual Energy, so he was able to drive it out in an instant. Nevertheless, he understood that it was that Dark Element that saved his life just a moment ago. Knowing the origin of the Dark Element, he immediately asked, "Roan, where are you?"

Roan didn't answer after that, which puzzled Frin. Roan was the only one who could use Dark Element in this place, so it had to be him. "Why would he save my life and disappear in the next moment?"

However...

"Disappeared, your ass!" Roan cursed with a dark expression as he came running from afar. "You jumped with all your might back. Do you think I can match the speed of a Stage Nine Demon Beast?"

Only then did Frin notice his mistake. Obviously, there was no way Roan would reach the place he landed on as fast as he did. Obviously, he wasn't there. "Ahem...my bad, my bad. Nevertheless, thanks for the help just a moment ago. If not for you, I don't know what would have happened to me."

Roan shook his head after that, saying, "Forget it. I wasn't planning to appear to start with. If not for the circumstances, I would have left since I prefer to act alone."

Frin already knew about Roan's personality, so he didn't take it to heart. "By the way, what was that intense red light? I felt like some kind of energy invaded my soul. For a moment, I thought that it wouldn't be bad to submit to it completely."

There was one good thing out of this. Roan now knew that the light was a lot more dangerous for demon beasts. When it assaulted his mind, he had enough mental clarity to see that it was trying to control him. That's why he was able to counterattack with his Dark Element. After all, the Soul Gem System's Soul Protection that helped them before was one of the system's perks. Since Rean was out of range, it was sealed. Roan had to defend against it on his own back in the underground area.

As for Frin, it immediately took control of his mind without him even noticing. One must not forget the huge difference in cultivation between Roan and Frin, so Frin was supposed to be even more resistant to that, which didn't happen.

Frin, of course, asked what was happening here. Roan then recalled everything he had experienced in his mind before sending a Spiritual Sense Message to explain what he knew and deduced so far. "I see...then that sphere with an eye inside is the thing that tried to take control of me. Wait! What if someone gets close to it without anyone to help?"

Roan shrugged his shoulders, telling Frin, "It depends on who's being assaulted. If it's a human, he'll probably die. That's why the people in this city were killed. However, all the buildings destined for demon beasts didn't have any traces of demon beast corpses. I think it's safe to say that the light doesn't kill demon beasts but only uses them for something else after taking control over their souls."

Frin nodded after that. "That makes sense. So, what are you planning to do now?"

Roan pondered over it a bit before he looked at Frin, asking, "I have a shard of the sphere I broke inside my Spatial Ring. I'll bring it out to see if the shard alone has any effect on you."

Frin couldn't help but let out a bit of sweat after hearing that. "Are you crazy?! Why would I need to be the test subject?! Forget it! Don't bring this thing out."

Roan shook his head, though. "Too bad, I've been holding it in my hands ever since you started to refuse." Roan then opened his hand, showing the fragment in his hand. Not only that, but the fragment was shining with the same red light as the tower in the distance.

"You!" Frin felt like giving Roan a beating. If Roan hadn't saved his life a moment ago, he definitely would have done that.

"Alright, it seems like the shard is useless once the sphere is broken. However, it can still be used to detect other spheres as it is reacting to the one in the tower. That's quite convenient."

Roan completely ignored Frin's exasperation in the end, much to the Silver Fenrir's helplessness. "What if I got taken by it as well?"

Roan shook his head, calming Fenrir as he told him, "I would have noticed and put the shard away again. Anyway, let's leave it aside." Roan then looked in the tower's direction. "I don't want another demon beast getting close to it and becoming a puppet. I'll head there and destroy that sphere as well. Wait for me here."

Frin nodded since he heard Roan saying that he could get rid of the power that controls one's mind. "Alright. I'll walk around this city to take a look."

Roan went silent for a bit before he threw the sphere shard to Frin. "If I'm not wrong, this thing will radiate a red light if you get close to one of those intact spheres. Make sure you keep an eye on it."

Frin didn't like holding that thing, but he could only accept since he couldn't use Spiritual Sense to find those spheres ahead of time. "Alright."

Surprisingly, that building was the only one that wasn't corroded by the crimson realm's higher-tiered energy, so Roan arrived on the top quite quickly. Because the sphere tried to take control over Frin's soul, it seemed to not have much power remaining. It still tried to invade Roan's soul but was easily brushed away by his Dark Element. Roan then broke it into many pieces and collected a few of them to pass to the others if he found them later. "That should be enough for now."

However, just as Roan was about to leave the building, another type of red light appeared in his vision, exclaiming inwardly, 'Killing intent!'