Death... and me

Rean and Kentucky looked at Essefy, confused. "Why did you come with us?"

"I think it is better if I follow you instead. You have proven to be much stronger than the others, after all," Essefy explained.

However, that was a problem for Rean and Kentucky. "Hum... that's complicated, as your presence won't help us very much."

Yet, Kentucky had an idea. "How about using him, Rean?"

"Using him?" Rean was confused for a second but immediately understood right after. "Oh! That might really work." He then looked back at Essefy. "Would you like to become hostage?"

Essefy had a bad feeling after hearing that question.

A few days later...

Lidigan Fortress was on the top of a hill, giving it a vantage point to the surroundings. From outside, it looked to be almost deserted, with just one or another Devil here and there. However, inside, there were quite a few experts, all staying in this place for the same purpose.

Inside a room of this fortress, a Space-Time Realm Devil was sitting near a humanoid figure who seemed to be sleeping. He was Fulilou, the one in charge of this fortress. He ignored the figure and just played with a few jade slips in his hands while cultivating. Suddenly, another devil entered the room with an alarmed expression. "Sir, we sighted a scout of the humanoid race nearby."

The devil immediately got up. "Are you sure? Where did he come from?"

"We don't know," the devil answered. "We sent a few of our members after him. We should receive some news soon."

A few minutes later, another devil came inside to report. "Sir Fulilou, we caught him! We are bringing him over right now."

Fulilou was a little surprised. Scouts were usually very good at running away. "That was quite fast."

"That's because we forced that scout to run in the direction of the army in the Juedibos Region after he noticed we found him. He ended up bumping into some of the Juedibos army scouts and had nowhere to run," the devil explained.

Fulilou was satisfied. He knew that the army in Juedibos was positioned nearby, not really for the war, but because of this fortress. If necessary, he could call for help from that army at any time. "Very good. Bring that scout to me. We need to find out if he knows anything about this place."

A few minutes later, two devils, wearing the Juedibos Army clothes, entered the room with confused expressions. They weren't aware that there were devils positioned in this fortress. However, after being shown Fulilou's token, they had to follow Folilou's subordinates' orders and bring the scout to him. "Sir Fulilou... We thought you were in Fasrasma Continent at the moment..."

Fulilou didn't explain anything since his deployment to this place was a secret. Still, he was quite surprised by those two scouts of the Juedibos Army. They were a lot stronger than what you would usually have for scouts. However, that didn't matter now. "Just shut up and bring the scout you captured. Also, you better not say anything you saw in this fortress later, or you won't be able to blame anyone if you lose your lives."

The two devils immediately nodded, feeling the pressure released by Fulilou when he threatened them. "Yes, sir. We saw nothing."

Right after, a humanoid figure similar to a child was brought inside the room. He was pretty badly beaten, and his cultivation was sealed by a layer of devilish energy. Obviously, that was the work of the devils that captured him. Seeing that child, Fulilou narrowed his eyes. "Peak Elemental Space Race... There is no way the humanoid races would use such a high-level expert as a simple scout. This is not good. This place's secret has probably been found already."

Fulilou's subordinates were taken aback. "Then we must leave for the next location immediately, senior."

"We can't risk losing the target," another one also pressed.

Fulilou narrowed his eyes before ordering. "Call Dogan and Zufato. They are cultivating in their rooms. Tell them that we probably have company, and we are immediately moving to the next safe location."

"Yes!" The subordinates nodded and left straight away, leaving just a few other devils behind. 

The two devils from the Juedibos Region army seemed to be as lost as before. "Sir... are we still needed for anything? If not, we would like to return to the Juedibos Army."

Fulilou snorted in response. Devils never liked to get into dangerous situations where they had no benefits. Almost none of them had any sense of duty. He could tell that these two thought they were in the wrong place and wrong time and wanted to leave immediately. However, how could he let them leave now that things turned out like this? Especially with their strength. "I will talk to Kukiro myself later, so you two will follow our group for now. Don't even think about running away, or I will end your lives myself."

The two devils trembled a little and immediately nodded, feeling helpless to be thrown into this situation. 

Fulilou nodded and also added. "However, you did help with this guy's capture, so I will let Kukiro know about it and tell him to reward you handsomely after our business is over."

The two devil's eyes lit up, and they bowed to Fulilou. "Thank you, sir."

Just as Fulilou was about to pass a few more orders to the rest of the devils in the fortress and start the child's interrogation, his eyes suddenly changed. "Shit! They really came!"

He wasn't the only one to notice it. The two devils, called Dogan and Zufato, had changes in expression as they noticed black spots entering their Natural Spatial Perception, just like Folilou did. "Enemy attack!"

The ones who entered their Spatial Senses were obviously Kanglia, Klingei, and the other cultivators. By now, the attack of Hrumes' army had already started, so Kanglia knew it was time to act.