Death… And Me

Lostrai's soul quickly merged with the new core, feeling almost no barriers or impairments. The process only took a few seconds. Following that, the puppet core activated with Lostrai inside. All the thousands of connections between the Puppet's Core and the Puppet itself lit up with life.

Finally, the Puppet opened its eyes, allowing Lostrai to see the outside world for the first time. "This... So this is how vision feels like..."

The Universe Foundation Fragment obviously didn't have eyes. Because of that, Lostrai used other types of sensorial abilities to 'see' everything around him. One could only imagine how it felt to be able to really see.

The Puppet then began to move around in a very clumsy way. Lostrai often fell to the ground, but with the Puppet's quality, not even a scratch appeared. Rean and the others were already expecting this. After all, it would be weird if Lostrai could control the Puppet to perfection as soon as he got there. It would take time, probably months, if not years, until the Puppet moved as Lostrai intended.

With some difficulty, Lostrai got up again and looked at Rean. "This is harder than I imagined."

Rean smiled. "What? Do you think I made it harder to move on purpose?"

"No..." Lostrai shook his head. "I can feel every detail of this Puppet. Its sensorial abilities don't lose at all compared to what I had before, and I can even see for real now. I understand I need a lot of practice, but this Puppet of yours will truly do exactly as I say once I get used to it."

Rean was satisfied with the answer. "That's more like it."

He then turned in the direction of the Universe Foundation Fragment, which had fallen on the ground. Now that Lostrai wasn't inside anymore, it was pretty easy to feel how this Azum Dimensional Realm kept using the Fragment's Power. The Yin and Yang, as well as the Light and Dark Elements, kept flowing out of the Fragment nonstop.

As Rean approached the Fragment, Lostrai noticed something. "Wait! What is it?"

They turned to Lostrai, who seemed to not be in a good mood. Finally, Lostrai cursed out. "I can't connect with the Azum Dimensional Realm anymore. How?! I made the connections myself! What the hell is happening?! Was it you all?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders. "Not at all. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't think about it previously. This Azum Dimensional Realm keeps itself by using the Fragment's power. It was this power that you used to control the Realm. Since you aren't the Fragment anymore, naturally, the Azum Dimensional Realm won't answer to you anymore. It matters not what kind of connections you prepared for yourself beforehand."

"This..." Lostrai felt threatened. That meant this Puppet was truly his only defense. However, although the quality was phenomenal, the Puppet could, at most, show a power similar to a Void Tempering Realm expert. It wouldn't be Rean's match at all without the connection with the source of energy of the Azum Dimensional Realm.

"Hmph!" Rean snorted, knowing what Lostrai was thinking. "There is no need to worry. You are free to go, stay, or do whatever you want. I'm not stopping you. I said I would let you go with the Puppet's body, and I intend to fulfill my words."

Lostrai was taken aback. To test it out, he began to walk to the exit, although he could barely move straight. Finally, he left the Blacksmith Workshop while everyone stayed inside. "Are they truly not coming after me?" Lostrai couldn't help but murmur.

Nonetheless, he didn't want to leave it up to chance. He used the little Divine Energy the Puppet had in its body and took flight... although it was also a very ugly flight form. Lostrai didn't spend so many years for nothing. He had accumulated a huge amount of Heavenly Stones. The Puppet was humanoid, but it cared not about what kind of energy it used as long as it was energy.

Soon, he retrieved a few Spatial Rings while keeping his Divine Sense spread. Seeing that neither Rean nor Roan appeared, he sighed in relief and moved to the nearest altar. Sure enough, after pouring a little of energy into it, the Spatial Laws enveloped Lostrai, and he was teleported out. As to what he would do from there onwards, that was his problem, and the twins couldn't care less.

Back in the Blacksmith Workshop, Sister Orb warned Rean. [The Puppet has left the Azum Dimensional Realm.]

Rean didn't tamper with the Puppet, indeed. However, he did add a tracker just to make sure Lostrai wouldn't try anything funny after leaving the workshop. "Great!"

*Zush!*

Roan then appeared in the workshop near the other blacksmiths and formation masters. They were all looking at the ownerless Universe Foundation Fragment. When Roan arrived in the Azum Dimensional Realm, the twins could once again use all abilities of the Soul Gem System. Naturally, the system felt the Fragment's presence and issued a quest to retrieve it. The reward was also very good: a million Destiny Points, which would turn into three million after the system's bonus was applied.

Rean looked at Roan, already expecting his arrival. "You are also concerned, right?"

Roan nodded, not hiding his thoughts. "This Fragment is what keeps this Dimensional Realm running. It is also its energy that feeds the Energy Sources that keep that thing sealed. Taking this Fragment away is easy, but what would happen once we did that?"

Rean sighed. "Well, I warned senior Spiegel about the thing sealed in the center of this Azum Dimensional Realm. Spiegel said he would see if he could contact the Semi-Celestial Angel he knew. Fortunately, due to the Semi-Celestials' agreement, we don't need to worry about being captured by this guy."

Roan didn't seem to mind that part. "That's not important. The important part is whether we can escape his Dimensional Realm if we take the Fragment. As for whatever is sealed in this place, it is not as important as our mission."

"Well, that's true..." Rean could only agree in the end. They truly didn't have the time and strength to deal with that being... if it was alive, of course. No one knows.