Divine Emperor of Death



"…"

Bylai and Sophie continued to stare at the treasure that they could only hope to have their hands on.

But despite the danger, their eyes never looked away, even for a moment.

"Sophie, are you thinking what I'm thinking…?"

Finally, Bylai opened her mouth, causing Sophie's brows to twitch as she turned to gaze at the former.

"Bylai, you can't be serious…"

"I mean, if we're going to die, let's at least die while trying to plunder some treasure. At least, our deaths wouldn't be in vain…"

"…"

Somehow, Sophie felt unable to retort.

This woman who was guilty of her dying wasn't afraid of her own death if it could be useful.

Thinking back, Bylai had almost willingly become a sacrifice in order to save the Zlatan Family from Davis despite the risk of cruelty she could experience, so she guessed that this woman was not kidding, trying to be useful as much as she could even if the cost is her life.

She turned to look back at the purplish-black flame wisps still burning the Molten Goldcrust Core. These flames produced ashen-gold dust that gathered underneath the burning core, gathering around the sides. They were not burning, but the apocalyptic wisps sure did sway a lot, making it even more dangerous to go near them.

"Although that's just a few strands of apocalyptic flames, if it touches us, we'll instantly lose the part that it grazes. Worst-case scenario, it might light our body in flames as soon as contact is made, so we'll probably die without even knowing how we died…"

Sophie advised before she turned to look at Bylai.

"Let's send our soul bodies first. Make them detached so that our souls don't burn from the connection…"

Bylai nodded.

The both of them summoned their soul bodies.

Two figures similar to them flew out of their foreheads and appeared in front of them.

Without much conversation, they flew out of the tiny island they were in, heading towards the burning Molten Goldcrust Core. Because it was near, they quickly made it in a minute, floating before it.

"…!"

However, their soul bodies began to rupture as they released a painful cry.

Sophie and Bylai were shook. Because they had detached themselves from this soul body, they didn't know what their soul bodies experienced, but they sure knew they were in a world of pain as the soul bodies were quickly sublimating like solid turning gas.

Their soul-bodies tried to retreat towards them, but it was already too late.

They ran out of energy, dispersing into the searing atmosphere.

"…"

Sophie and Bylai remained silent for some time before the former opined.

"Do you want to use our avatars this time?

"No."

Bylai quickly shook her head, "Our avatars are trump cards that should be used to save ourselves at the right moment. At least, we should not be using them until we're about to die so that we could use them as a foothold or a shield to escape."

"You have a point…" Sophie wryly smiled, "But aren't you the one who said that it's better to die while plundering some treasure."

Bylai rolled her eyes in response, "That doesn't mean we need to throw away our life-saving trump cards carelessly."

"Hehe~"

Sophie giggled while Bylai shrugged with a pout, "Don't take it literally…"

She muttered under her breath, causing Sophie's giggle to become more pronounced before she slapped Bylai's shoulder ever so lightly.

"You're right. There's a fine line separating bravery and stupidity, so leave this to me. I know how to deal with flames."

Bylai stared at Sophie. Her brows furrowed with worry, but a few seconds later, she bit her lips and heavily nodded.

"I trust you."

Sophie nodded to Bylai's trust. She leaned forward and kissed Bylai's cheek, embracing her as though this was going to be the last time she was going to see her face.

Bylai was also solemn.

If it weren't for the fact that their soul bodies couldn't survive in this searing heat without having the aid of body-tempered flesh, easily dying, they would've sent more even if it cost ten percent of their soul force each time. Even if they wanted to increase the amount of energy their soul bodies held in order to not disperse from the overwhelming heat, they would have to sacrifice their soul essence for it, which honestly wasn't worth it.

Therefore, the topic of bringing out avatars made sense.

Even if they detached, their avatars could survive independently, but the pain would be ultimately carried back to them as it was not easy to destroy the senses they shared with their avatars, unlike the easily controllable soul bodies, making it more dangerous for them to use avatars.

Regardless, having decided on a course of action, Sophie summoned out her avatar.

Fortunately, she hadn't left her avatar back above to record the treasures being brought.

Bylai had also been using her avatar until she found the Molten Goldcrust Core and collected it, after which she pulled her avatar back into her soul sea.

After all, the Solitary Soul Avatar was mostly used by them as a support, always learning knowledge or comprehending Laws that would help them in the end.

Nonetheless, Sophie's avatar understood the situation perfectly as it knew what Sophie knew very well from the connection they shared. However, their shared senses were no longer present as Sophie detached her senses from her avatar.

With that, the pain or any other emotion one would experience would remain unknown to them until they re-established their senses.

Sophie's avatar nodded to Bylai one last time before she turned around and flew out of the tiny island.

Like the soul bodies before, it wasn't long before she reached the tiny island.

Amidst the infernal landscape of molten magma and billowing plumes of smoke, Sophie stood perched on a precarious foothold, her silhouette framed by the purplish-black fiery glow that danced across the rugged terrain. Her heart, made from soul force, was full of trepidation as she saw the solid surface was now a blazing mass of ember and magma, crackling with the earth's vindictiveness.

The moment Sophie neared the apocalyptic flames, she also came into contact with dust gathered right in between them. If she just bent and reached out her hand, she would be able to collect this precious dust.

However, blistering temperatures basically demanded that she remain extremely careful, or else, even the slightest ignition could cause her to die or at least reap the life from the avatar, that is.

Sophie bent and carefully reached out her hand.

She sensed the billowing wind and the trajectory it caused the strand of apocalyptic flame to sway, waiting for the right timing to sweep the dust into her spatial ring.

*Booom!~*

However, just as she was about to wave her hand and swiftly make her retreat, a huge explosion resounded somewhere above her, causing her to twitch as she took a step back, almost falling back into the sea of magma. However, she regained balance and turned to look towards the distance, where the apocalyptic flames were present like wildfire.

A new lavafall joined the sea of magma, but descending beside it was a purple-robed man whose figure was encased by an iridescent black-white wheel that constantly erased everything in his path. His figure turned, and their gazes connected, causing Sophie to be delighted to no end.

"Dear!"

Davis's sapphire gaze fell on Sophie, but the moment his gaze fell on the apocalyptic flames, his pupils dilated.

"Don't worry! I'm safe here!"

However, the real Sophie yelled out from the tiny island she was with Bylai, causing his heart that had sunken to float back into normalcy.

"...!"

However, the heart that had just floated back instantly wanted to leap out of his throat as he saw Sophie's avatar suddenly light up in apocalyptic flames.

"Careful! Those flames are karmically deadly!"