Death... and me



Kentucky shrugged his shoulder. "Then I can only imagine when they came back here and found out the planet went puff..."

"It is even worse than that," Eagon added. "They obviously knew that Cryan had too much energy inside himself. That said, if they really came back and saw the planet was gone, they probably thought Cryan exploded and brought the planet down with him."

Roan, Kentucky, and even Cryan admitted Eagon was most likely right. After all, Cryan understood that it had been a long time since the explosion now that Roan's group had explained everything. 

"Alright, do you at least know who were the people you made a deal with?" Roan asked the most important question.

Yet, Cryan had no idea. "No. I didn't really care about who it was as long as I could come out."

"Now that I think about it, how did you even appear here?" Kentucky asked. "Were you born here? I've never heard about Crystalized World Essence, let alone one with sentience."

Cryan didn't mind telling them. "Whether I'm the only one or not, I don't know. However, I was indeed born here... at least, I think I was. By the time I gained sentience millions of years ago, I was already inside this place. The worst part was that I could see everyone on the planet and everything they did if I wished to. Yet, I couldn't communicate with them. You can imagine just how much it made me want to escape this place."

"As for how I came to be, I don't know that either. I was already in this crystalized form by the time I could think by myself. I heard conversations about artifact spirits before, and I believe I'm something similar. After all, the artifact spirits' abilities depend on the items where they gained sentience, and I'm no different."

Roan and the others agreed with that. "Alright, in that case, let's go back to the deal. If we can get you out, would you allow us to take away half of your Divine Origin Energy?"

Cryan immediately agreed. "If that is possible, then by all means. At first, I thought the planet was destroyed because those I made a deal with gave up trying to take me out. Only now do I understand they weren't even the same people. Do any of you have an idea of how to take me out?"

Eagon, Roan, and Kentucky went silent. Obviously, they had no idea right now. "We need to make a few tests..."

"What kind of tests?" Cryan immediately asked back.

Roan talked to Rean through their Soul Connection. 'Do you have any good idea?'

'First, ask him to try leaving the area on his own and let me see the results. Oh! Before that, see if you can leave this area as well. After all, we still don't know if you guys are trapped there or not,' Rean asked.

Roan nodded and immediately told everyone what they had to do. Cryan told them they should have no issues leaving since the first guys who appeared there could do it. Still, they tried that first. Fortunately, Cryan was right. They were able to exit and enter Cryan's space without any deterrents, confirming that at least they wouldn't get trapped there.

Right after, Roan asked Cryan to try to leave that space on his own. Cryan had already tried it countless times, so he didn't mind showing it. As he approached the barrier that separated his pseudo-dimensional realm and the outside world, the world essence in his body began to churn. Getting closer to that barrier got harder and harder as his body was continuously pulled back to the center. In the end, even with all his strength, Cryan reached his limit and gave up, shooting straight back to the center of that space like a bullet.

"This..." Roan, Kentucky, and Eagon watched that force and were a little at a loss. They could tell that something was indeed pulling Cryan back, but they couldn't feel what kind of force it was even with their Divine Senses.

"It's absolutely not space power," Eagon commented first.

Kentucky nodded. "My race is especially sensitive to Spatial Powers, so I can confirm Eagon's words."

"It's not the Divine Origin Energy in his body either," Roan added.

Yet, Rean already had an answer after watching everything through their connection. 'It's his World Essence. As you know, I've worked a lot with World Essence generated by the system before it became Solar Essence. From the looks of it, the planet itself isn't allowing Cryan to leave. That's how I see it.'

Roan then told everyone what Rean said. "That's what it seems."

Cryan agreed. "Oh, so you could tell, uh?"

"You knew it?" Kentucky asked back.

Cryan then explained. "I didn't say it at first because I wanted to see if you could even notice this much. If you couldn't, then there would be no point in trying to get me out."

Eagon couldn't help but mention. "Then it is simple, no? Just get rid of the World Essence you have absorbed and come out."

Rean, who was also hearing everything, laughed in Roan's mind. 'Hahaha! What kind of idiot would ask that? Cryan's own existence is due to the World Essence of the planet. Asking him to get rid of the World Essence is the same as asking to die.'

And so Roan repeated Rean's words for everyone to hear.

Eagon obviously didn't like the idiot part. "Fine, I should have thought a little bit."

Cryan agreed. "You should have indeed. Still, I'm happy that someone understood this part. If I could give up my World Essence, I would have done it a long time ago. This Crystallized Form of mine is basically concentrated World Essence. I'm definitely dead if I get rid of it."

Roan pondered a bit and asked. "Have you tried to destroy this Pseudo Dimension?"

Cryan confirmed. "Yes. Unfortunately, it doesn't even budge. Give it a try yourselves. You will see what I'm talking about."

Roan, Kentucky, and Eagon didn't have a reason to refuse, so they exited the Pseudo-Dimensional Realm and attacked it. Too bad, though. All their attacks passed straight through it. It was as if the dimension didn't even exist. Divine Origin Energy, Star Energy, Spatial Energy, Soul Power, you name it. Nothing could affect that barrier. In fact, it was only a barrier for Cryan himself. For anyone else, it was pretty much the same as nothing.