Death... and me

Duran and Frin were the only ones present that could really battle at a high level, so they decided to stick together for the moment. By now, even Duran found it extremely unlikely that the demon beasts prepared all of this just for the Zasfins. "So, what should we do next?"

Roan immediately answered, "We should destroy as many crimson spheres as possible so that we can drag whoever is behind it all out."

Duran and Frin weren't against that plan. After all, destroying the crimson spheres would also prevent the other Zasfins or demon beasts from becoming victims of them. "That's fine. However, how will we find them? The shards we have indeed have the ability to tell us when we're close, but the range is limited. As you have already noticed, the distance between each of these spheres is enormous."

Roan coldly smiled in response, saying, "Don't worry, I know how to find them." As soon as he said that, Roan took out a shard of the crimson sphere he had destroyed before.

Going back a day in the past, as he and Frin were making their way to where Rean was, Roan had been thinking why the energy in the sphere was so familiar. At some point, he finally understood why that was the case. 'I see! This is Underworld Energy!'

Roan took some time to identify the type of higher energy the Soul Gem System told them about because the Underworld Energy of this half of the universe was so different from his own. However, once he realized that, a lot of things started to make sense. 'It explains why these crimson spheres and the one controlling them have such high effect on the soul.'

As a Death Spirit in his previous life (Or Death itself?), Roan took the soul out of the dead bodies and sent them into the path of reincarnation. Naturally, the beings of the organization Roan worked for were very good at it to the point that even Zasfins would feel embarrassed of their Soul Power. Death Spirits were simply unmatched when it came to controlling their and their targets' souls.

'If the one behind all of it came from the Underworld, it's only natural that he's that good. However, why does he only take the souls of demon beasts and not those from the humans or the Zasfins?' That was the part Roan didn't understand since a Death Spirit would be good with any Soul from any race. However, he soon noticed a different point.

'Right! This is not my half of the universe. We have Spiritual Energy in this place, so the souls of demon beasts evolved differently from humans, Zasfins, and so on. Death Spirits were good with any kind of soul in my previous life because none of those souls reached the level that souls in this half of the universe can.'

The more Roan thought about it, the more it made sense. 'In that case, I can think of only one solution. This half of the universe's Underworld needs different Death Spirits specialized in different types of souls. If my conjecture is right, that explains why humans and Zasfins die straight away when invaded by the Underworld Energy used by the crimson spheres.'

Of course, the only one Roan told regarding this information was Rean, who knew who he was. Roan didn't see the need to tell Kentucky since the dumb bird wouldn't be of any help even if it knew.

However, Roan couldn't help but feel a little excited when he discovered that information, thinking, 'Since I know this is Underworld Energy, I guess I can make good use of it. Hehe!' Even if he had become a human, he still remembered very well how to control Underworld Energy. It's just that this one is different, so Roan had to get used to it first...and so he did. He spent the time Frin took to arrive in Rean's location to work on the shard's energy. Although the crimson sphere was destroyed and didn't have the power to take control of anyone's soul anymore, it still had remnant energy for Roan to work with.

Back in the present, when Rean heard about Roan's conclusion, he couldn't help but ask through their Soul Connection, 'Does that mean we have a Death Spirit in this place?'

Roan shook his head as he told him, 'That I can't be sure of. Back in our half of the universe, a Death Spirit was enough to deal with any soul. That's why they existed. But here, there might not be any Death Spirits to start with. There might be other kinds of existences in the Underworld doing the job I did in my previous life. In fact, that's most likely the case since I don't think I would be able to work in this half of the universe as a simple Death Spirit.'

Rean couldn't help but joke after hearing that, 'Maybe we have a demon there, and now we have one here. Hahaha!' However, his smile disappeared almost instantly as he asked soon after, 'That's not possible, right? Do demons really exist to start with?'

Roan glanced at Rean as he thought about some rumors of his past life before saying, 'Back in the Universal Transition Organization (Death's workplace in his previous life), I've never seen a demon. However, my teacher told me that in time immemorial, they were the real controllers of the Underworld. It's just that no one knew what happened to them in the end.'

Rean couldn't help but let out a bit of sweat after that. 'Demons...could it be that they have something to do with demon beasts?'

'I don't think so,' Roan replied. 'After all, demons could be anything, both beasts, humans, or any kind of race. The problem is that I didn't care about it in the past, so I don't even know how demons were created. I just told you the things my teacher commented on with me since he was an enthusiast of these things. I wish I had a way to talk with him right now as I believe he knows more.'

Frin noticed Roan going silent, prompting him to ask not long after, "What are you waiting for? Didn't you say you know a way to find these crimson spheres?"