Death... and me

Duran, Rean, and Roan then mounted on Frin, who was the fastest among them on land. After activating his Light bending skill, Frin departed from the city, flashing into the distance. Things were even easier this time. Frin didn't need to avoid the demon beasts too much. Even if some of them were strong enough to bother Frin, Duran was there as well, and that was considering they noticed Frin's presence when he stepped on the ground. 

In just an hour, Roan had already guided them to the fourth crimson sphere. Of course, the first three spheres were the ones that Roan, Frin, and Duran destroyed. "Duran, you have this green pendant of yours. You go ahead and break the sphere."

Duran didn't mind as he jumped off Frin's back and rushed to the target. His pendant once again activated, blocking any possible damage to his soul.

*Bang!*

*Crack...*

*Shatter!*

Sure enough, the spheres were just too fragile. As long as they couldn't take control of one's soul, they were pretty much useless. Duran then returned to Frin's back before saying, "One less. Let's head onto the next."

Frin didn't waste time as he turned into a flash of silver light once again, running in the direction Roan selected. And just like that, they began to destroy one sphere after another.

Two, three, four, seven, ten, fifteen, twenty...even the Stage Nine Demon Beasts being controlled by the sphere were no match for Duran and Frin. When they received any damage during the battle, Rean would be there to heal them soon after. Well, that was very rare since those controlled demon beasts didn't have any sentience. Their bodies weren't real either. Simply put, they were just too weak to pose any threat to Rean's group.

Another good thing was that the demon beasts in the surroundings would disappear as soon as the spheres were destroyed. That would prevent more trouble while leaving a zone within the sphere's range. However, they also noticed something else.

"All the Stage Nine Demon Beasts we've found had their souls taken away by the red claw, no exception. What does the enemy need those souls for?" Rean asked, slightly worried.

Duran shrugged his shoulders. "How should we know? We'll find out sooner or later, though. Well, that's considering there really is an enemy to start with. Until now, it's just nothing more than speculation. It's not because those red claws keep appearing that it must be someone else's doing."

Roan, on the other hand, didn't believe that. However, he only told Rean about it through their Soul Connection. 'If this is a being of the Underworld, that means the souls are being used for sure. The only doubt I have is how they're being used. As a Death Spirit in the past, I could use others' souls to heal my own. It's just that there was a limit to how effective it was, so rarely did the Death Spirits touch others' souls for their own benefit. Well, it was extremely rare for Death Spirits to get injured anyway.'

Rean thought about another possibility. 'That was something from the other side of the universe, right? Here in the cultivation universe, I wouldn't be surprised if others' souls could be used to strengthen the Death Spirits of the Underworld. Perhaps there are even more uses for it. Don't forget that the Zasfins could use human souls to create the Bloodline Soul Marks.'

Roan agreed with Rean on that point.

Back where the being with red eyes was staying, he was almost exploding in rage. 'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Do they have any idea how long I need to make each of those Soul Submission Orbs? They already destroyed thousands of years of effort in just three days!'

Unfortunately for the guy, he couldn't leave his location. 'I'm so close! I can't let it continue like this! And here I thought those living Divine Demon Beasts would make things even faster. I wish I hadn't prepared that trap at the entrance.'

The guy then calmed down as he spread his sense over the realm. 'I didn't want to use them, but it seems like I have no choice.' Soon, he found what he was looking for. There were three demon beasts gathered around a crimson sphere. Their eyes were vacant, and if others didn't pay close attention, one would think those demon beasts were dead.

Suddenly, the same dark energy from before entered the World Beast Formation, rushing to the crimson sphere. Soon after, it left the sphere and entered the demon beasts' heads. In fact, those demon beasts were very familiar. If Rean's group was there, they would immediately recognize them. They were Phex, Xaon, and Darian! It turns out that they got close to the crimson spheres and had no way to fight against the beast controlling properties of the sphere. In the end, they had become under the control of the enemy.

'Living souls are much better than dead ones, let alone the souls of Divine Demon Beasts. If I had a few more weeks, these souls would be ready for use. It's totally different from the other Stage Nine Demon Beasts who need to keep killing for thousands of years until their souls stabilize enough for my use.' 

However, the red-eyed being gritted its teeth as resolve appeared in his eyes. 'Forget it. I've already waited this long. I can wait a few more thousands of years to finish. As long as I don't lose all of my Soul Submission Orbs, everything will end eventually.'

The red-eyed being then passed a stream of orders to Phex, Zaon, and Darian. 'Head to this location and kill these intruders. I don't care if your souls get torn apart. You must stop them!'

"Yes...Master..." Phex's group seemed to wake up from their trance with the creature's words. Without asking anything, they dashed into the distance.

As for the creature, it still felt the pain from the waste. 'Now that the process has been interrupted, their souls are done for. Sigh...so many losses just because of my haste.'