Death... and me

Rean then scratched the back of his head before saying, "Well, I'll be leaving then. I hope Senior Duran will make it to the portal to the Realm of Gods."

However, Duran suddenly placed a hand on Rean's shoulder before he could even take a single step. "Not so fast, little boy." Poor Rean couldn't help but bitterly smile as he waited for Duran to continue. "I didn't say I believed you don't know anything about this place. I just said I wouldn't kill you. Now then, how about I go with you to find your little friends? In exchange, this old man can act as your protector."

Rean then answered, "Hehe! But of course! How could I refuse such big help like yours, senior? Now then, the region below the centermost star is where I intend to go. Does Senior Duran have anything against this idea?"

Duran laughed as he shook his head. "Hahaha! I have no complaints at all! Besides, the region below that centermost star might really have something important. How could I not head there? Come, this old man will lead the journey." Without waiting for Rean to say anything, Duran enveloped him with his Spiritual Energy before shooting into the distance. With his cultivation, even moving on the ground was still extremely fast.

Rean sighed and simply gave up on the idea of escaping. Duran wouldn't let that happen at all. Even if he used his Light bending skill, Duran could merely destroy everything around him in a moment, possibly killing Rean in the process. 'Well, I guess I'm quite lucky that he didn't kill me, I guess? I better wait for a better chance.'

The only problem was Kentucky, who was flying right in his direction. That wasn't all. Rean noticed that Roan finally began to move in his direction as well. It's just that Roan was much, much further away. It wasn't a distance Roan could make in just a day or two. 'I'll have to wait and see.'

Duran wasn't the only Transition Realm or Stage Nine Demon Beast who found opponents at the same level to fight, though. Phex also got quite the headache when he arrived in the realm. He was forced to battle a Stage Nine Demon Beast that looked like a giant shark. Yes, he was also sent into the ocean, just like Rean.

Phex, as a leader of the demon beasts, had access to a lot of old information from the past of the planet. Because of that, he also recognized the shark, exclaiming, "Senior Yurkos, please stop!" Unfortunately, the shark kept attacking nonstop. Even when it was severely injured, it continued its assault. "What the hell is happening here? Why is Senior Yurkos here? Didn't he try to break the barrier to the Realm of Gods on his own in the past?"

In the end, Phex decided to return to his original form and fly away. Yurkos wasn't a flying demon beast, so he could only jump out of the water to catch him. Unfortunately, Phex was stronger to start with, let alone the fact that Yurkos didn't seem to have any intelligence at the moment. As for Phex, he didn't want to kill the guy since he was an important member of the Demon Beast Alliance in the past before he was born.

Only after he made enough of a gap from the shark did Phex finally relax. "How could the Bestial Sacred Ground suddenly transform into a Dimensional Realm? Could it be that the formations around the Demon Beast Continent were providing the Bestial Sacred Ground with energy for this? Then again, why haven't we seen this Dimensional Realm before? Also, what happened to the demon beasts here? I'm pretty sure they're all dead, but they still have their souls, albeit without any intelligence."

Phex continued to fly forward when suddenly, he spotted an island in the distance. Without thinking twice, Phex went straight down to search the island. "Let's take a look."

Phex flew around the island and could see demon beasts everywhere. They fought against each other before eating the loser. This kind of scene could be seen in every corner of the island. Phex also noticed such a thing happening in the ocean before he bumped into Yurkos.

However, he noticed something else that was only possible because he was a demon beast. "The demon beasts that are eaten seem to increase the winner's energy, although just slightly. As for any remnants of the demon beast, they simply disappear. Could it be that they are trying to eat the other's soul?"

Phex then ignored those demon beasts and flew to the center of the island. Surprisingly though, the center of the island was empty, with no demon beast being near it at all. It was as if it was a forbidden zone for them.

"What's that?" Phex noticed that at the very center, there was a giant red sphere with a red cloud inside it. "This thing obviously has some effect on the demon beasts in the area. Otherwise, the demon beasts would stay far away as they usually do."

Phex decided to take a closer look when suddenly, Spiritual Energy and another type of energy that Phex didn't know began to gather around the sphere. In front of his eyes, blood began to come out of the crimson ground while a small point of energy condensed above the sphere.

That blood then gathered around that point of energy as it took the form of a demon beast little by little. Eventually, what seemed to be a horse-type demon beast was created.

That didn't stop there, though. The red cloud inside the sphere cleared out, showing the same eye that Roan found back in the underground area.  That eye shone brightly with red light, which seemed to resonate with the horse's head. Or, to be more specific, with the point of energy Phex saw a moment ago. 'I see...that point of energy was the demon beast's soul. As for the blood, is it the Bestial Blood Pond's blood that created its body? The energy coming from it certainly reminds me of it.'

Phex pondered over it a bit more...or so he tried. Without noticing, he began to walk in the direction of the sphere as he thought, 'Weird...I feel kind of sleepy.'