Death... and me

Chapter 1976 Contingency

And now, they had just tricked Beelzebub once again. "You... how did you find out about me?"

Hearing that, Roan didn't mind explaining. "Your soul had been trapped in that pseudo-world for so long. That place was enormous and really well protected from every possible side. Besides, you were able to gather and use so much power even though only your soul remained. Doesn't that seem a little too far-fetched?"

"Of course, at the time, I didn't consider such a thing. We knew too little about the Realm of Gods. However, after we heard about Beelzebub and how he didn't really have a physical body, we thought that perhaps that's the guy we had. Soul Devils are strong by just being souls. You were strong by just being a soul, and most of your power is sealed in this altar."

"Well, you just had to answer us after we used the word Beelzebub, so you only have yourself to blame. We didn't expect it to be this easy," Roan finished.

Of course, Beelzebub hardly cared about that. "Hmph! So what? You can do anything to me and are just lucky that this altar exists. If you try to destroy it, then I couldn't be more thankful. Now, place me back and forget about me."

"No problem." Rean's group nodded in response. "See you around."

Beelzebub was taken aback, expecting that the twins' group wanted something from him after ascertaining his identity. Yet, they just checked it and were now sending him back into the ground. He already understood that he couldn't escape this Dimensional Realm, so when would the next time he would see the outside world be?

"Wait..." Just as his altar was about to be sealed in the Dimensional Realm again, he asked them to stop. "What is it that you want? It couldn't be that all you wished was to know whether I was Beelzebub or not, right? Although this black-haired shit tricked me, he didn't break our pact. Go ahead, talk. Just be aware that I'll want a new pact to be made with Roan, and this time, I'll really want to be released."

Roan faintly smiled in response. "First, you were born in the surroundings of the entrance to the Path of Reincarnation, right?"

Beelzebub confirmed Roan's words. "Isn't that obvious? That's the only place where you can get enough dead souls together to create a Soul Devil. If not there, then where?"

"There's one thing I don't understand, though," Roan continued. "From what we heard, devils with cultivations at the Space Bending Realm or above can't enter there. However, you're considered one of the beings at the peak of the cultivation universe. Just like the others, you just can't get stronger because the laws of the Universe don't permit it. How did that happen?"

Beelzebub understood something. "You know about the cultivation limit around the Path of Reincarnation? That's something only the top powers in the Underworld are aware of. Could it be that we're in the Underworld at the moment?"

Rean, Celis, Kentucky, and Sister Orb looked at Roan, who just nodded and decided to tell the truth. "That's correct. One of the Universe Fragments is located here, after all."

Seeing how he wasn't sealed underground, Beelzebub used his Soul Power to scan everything in his surroundings. A moment later, he was surprised by what he found. "I can feel the Universe Fragment's power. How did you get your hands on it?"

"We're just a lot more efficient than you. It's that simple," Roan answered. "So, will you talk about your cultivation or not?"

Beelzebub pondered over it for a moment and thought that perhaps it was a huge opportunity. "Fine. That cultivation limitation is only valid for others. Although I'm a Soul Devil, I'm ultimately a gathering of dead souls. The surroundings around the Path of Reincarnation can't see the difference between the normal dead souls and me in there. It's not like it has some sentience or anything like that. With that being said, I can enter and leave that place anytime I want. My cultivation is not a deterrence. If anything, it's a very safe location for me."

It was then that Celis thought about a possibility. "This guy was probably sealed away because he couldn't be killed. Not only that, but he could enter the Path of Reincarnation with his strength. Doesn't it seem like the other devils didn't like that idea and decided to do something about it?"

Celis's words brought back quite a few bad memories to Beelzebub. "Ha! As if they would really do that. I wasn't killed, not because I can't be killed. There's no such thing as real immortality in this Universe. I wasn't killed because they were afraid."

Roan thought for a moment following that. "The other devils were afraid of losing one of the pillars of strength of the Underworld."

"Oh!" Rean's group had to admit it made sense. "The devils should also be the ones with the right method to free Beelzebub from this altar."

The twins had checked the altar before. They didn't have any intention of releasing Beelzebub, but that didn't mean they didn't think about that. For example, perhaps releasing Beelzebub outside in a moment of peril might work as a life-saving opportunity. Yet, they reached the conclusion that even they couldn't destroy the altar. It was holding one of the top experts in the Universe, after all.

"That's not all. If, because of some mistake, the devils fail to notice the appearance of a new Soul Devil, the best way to deal with it is to have the other Soul Devil come out and fight it. In that case, Beelzebub," Rean added.

Beelzebub didn't deny that. "They can accept one Soul Devil for their own benefit, but they definitely can't allow more than one. They know I also can't allow another Soul Devil other than me, so they kept me around. The famous contingency plan. What wouldn't I give to eat their souls..."