Death... and me

Little did the red-eyed being know, but the hidden entrance to the real core of the World Beast Formation had already been found. Red was right. The island in the center was just a death trap. The World Beast Formation did indeed use the demon beasts' blood, but there was no such thing as it using souls. That's something the red-eyed being added later to capture the Souls it needs.

If Rean's group really entered that opening on the island, they would meet with all the trapped souls in there. Be it the twins or even Frin and Duran, they would be assaulted by the souls all at once. After all, it wasn't as if there was enough demon beast blood for all the souls. Some of them had been in that place for almost as long as the red-eyed being was in the Dimensional Realm. One can only imagine the instinctual grievances they felt after being trapped there for so long. They didn't have sentience anymore, but their wrath still remained.

The red-eyed being left it there as bait. After all, everyone would think that the island in the center of the Blood Lake was the real deal. They would think that the key to getting out of this place was there.

Rean and Roan obviously felt Kentucky's presence as well. Nevertheless, they were more impressed by the enormous Blood Lake that appeared in front of them when they passed through the illusion formation. "This thing is huge!"

"This..." Frin was also just as shocked. "This isn't a pond at all. This is definitely a lake! Holy shit! The Blood Pond I saw before isn't even a hundredth of the size of this thing. Could it be that the previous one was fake?" Frin was one of the Stage Nine Demon Beasts, so he had entered the fake Bestial Sacred Ground with Phex and the others before.

Roan nodded in response, saying, "We already think that this dimensional realm is the real Bestial Sacred Ground, so this Blood Lake should indeed be the real deal. Though..." Even Roan was somewhat moved by the amount of blood there. In his previous life (or death) as a Death Spirit, such a scene wasn't anything common at all. At the very least, he hadn't seen it before.

Rean and Roan felt Kentucky approaching them with the connection between them. Of course, they could see it with the naked eye since Kentucky was also using Rean's Light bending skill. Eventually, they got close enough for Rean to take over and allow the two groups to see each other.

"Wait! Red? Gulan? You're still alive?!" Rean was genuinely shocked. After all, they even lost the Peak Stage Nine Divine Demon Beasts. It was hard to believe that Red and Gulan, who were at Stage Six, were still alive. "Could it be that you didn't get close to one of the crimson spheres?"

Red shook his head and explained the thing that happened to him and Gulan. He talked about his golden lightning and the memories that started to pop up in his head.

"I see..." Except for Duran, everyone knew that Red had lost his memories. "Have you remembered anything else since you found Kentucky?"

Red pondered in silence for a bit before saying, "I do remember a few places I've never seen before. Some places and creatures that I don't think exist in this world." Red participated in the war, so he had seen plenty of different demon beasts. "Besides, the bits and pieces of memories I have are from locations without any snow. That shouldn't be possible since this planet was covered in an ice age for thousands of years. I'm definitely not that old."

That pretty much confirmed Rean and Roan's theory that Red wasn't from this world, just like them. Then again, the part that puzzled them was the golden lightning being able to fight back the soul-controlling properties of the sphere. "Kentucky has Dark Element, so he can use it to destroy the crimson sphere's power, just like Roan and I. However, I didn't think that lightning could be used for the same thing."

Red shook his head, explaining, "It's different. My Lightning Elemental Affinity is not the same lightning you see on the others. To be more precise, golden lightning is an odd Elemental Affinity, just like your Dark and Light Elements."

Duran was still puzzled by most of the things they were talking about. "Can someone stop ignoring me and explain what you're talking about?"

Rean nodded and gave him a quick explanation about Red's issues. Only then did he understand what it was all about. "Now I get it. Anyway, we can think about this guy's past later. I'm more interested in his memories about the Bestial Sacred Ground."

Red nodded, knowing it wasn't time to think about his past. "It goes like this..."

Rean and the others narrowed their eyes as they listened. In fact, Frin even let out a bit of cold sweat a little. Back then, when they stopped Red's assault in the Underwater Palace, they wanted to kill Red straight away. However, Rean and Roan denied the idea, hiding Red in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Only at this moment could he see just how correct that decision of the twins was. If not for that, they would have entered the opening in the island's center and probably died.

Duran then put those thoughts behind before saying, "Whatever. I've waited long enough to get rid of that guy. Since he isn't expecting us, or at least we think he isn't, we should go. After all, he'll notice something different if we take too long to appear in front of another crimson sphere."

Roan agreed with Duran. "Duran's right." He looked at Red after that, and asked, "Do you have any other memories regarding the location of the core?"

Red shook his head, replying, "No. So far, those are the only memories I have. However, they're surfacing little by little. If you wait, I might remember something else."

Everyone shook their heads in an instant. "Terrible idea. We need the element of surprise. Let's go."

Duran and Frin then took the lead while Rean and Red worked together with their skills to keep everyone hidden.