Death... and me
Chapter 3848: Pretension

Xian was contained inside a cage of Divine Energy and metal. He looked pretty transparent, which was a sign that he had lost most of his shadow/emotional energy. Xian then looked at Rean, who obviously looked completely different, both in appearance and aura. Yet, the moment his eyes landed on Rean, he was certain. "You a-"

"Hey! This Umbra seems almost dead!" Rean quickly cut in, not letting Xian speak. He wasn’t an idiot. Umbras could feel souls, so he was pretty sure Xian would recognize him. Or, at the very least, feel something familiar.

As he said that, his Divine Sense reached Xian with a message. ’Don’t speak. It’s me, Rean. Well, judging by your surprised expression, you likely noticed already. Anyway, no one here knows my real identity. If they find out I know you, they will also discover I’m not really the person I’m pretending to be. Try to shout or do something else. The surprise you showed after seeing me definitely felt off.’

Xian immediately understood this was his only chance, throwing himself against the cage and cursing. "It’s you all! You are the ones killing the other Umbras!"

Kuruhei didn’t seem to care. "Well, I’ll give you a chance now. You Umbras keep trying to take over the living beings’ bodies. Many of our forces were taken by your race, too. So, I wish to have a look up close. I’ll set you free, and you can try to take over the body of this man in front of you. Don’t worry, he will not fight back. Who knows? Perhaps that’s the chance you need to exact your revenge."

Rean was still talking to Xian while that. ’Xian, I need you to help me buy time. When he lets you free, come at me and try to enter my body like before. Make it look like we are both struggling. The longer it takes, the better. Don’t worry, I’ll bring you out. I still owe you for before.’

Xian couldn’t use Divine Sense, but he slightly nodded while pretending to be raging. "You want to take over his body? Hmph! As soon as I do that, I will take care of you all. This will be your biggest mistake!"

Kuruhei found that amusing, knowing that the Umbra was only a Level One. He could wipe that Umbra out with a single thought. Of course, he wouldn’t do that. "Set him free. Let’s see how it really works up close."

The experts who brought Xian deactivated the cage, and Xian immediately threw himself into Rean’s body. Xian was already used to it since he had done a similar thing in the past. Let’s not forget he covered Rean and Roan’s entire bodies to make it impossible for other Umbras to notice them back then.

*Ughhh...*

Rean... or Yemmel... put a hand over his head, looking to be in pain. At the same time, the experts around saw Xian’s Shadow Energy circulating around Rean’s body, especially the head, narrowing their eyes.

"So that’s what it looks like when you don’t fight back, uh?"

"Seems painful..."

"Shut up!" Dlotter shouted. "You are disturbing the commander’s thoughts."

Kuruhei was expressionless and didn’t say anything. He was watching everything inside Rean’s body with his Divine Sense. That Umbra seemed to be attacking the head, where one obviously expected the soul to be. Yet, the process seemed quite lengthy, not that he was in a hurry. "Seems like the fact that this Umbra was weakened is making him take longer to take over Yemmel’s body. Interesting."

As that happened, Rean actually guided Xian, telling him what to do and how to pretend to be gaining terrain. Slowly, Xian’s Shadow Energy was settling inside Rean’s head, which wasn’t really a problem. Rean’s soul doesn’t exist only in his head anymore. His soul was also his entire body.

Exactly seventeen minutes later...

[Done! Holy shit, this one was hard! It was almost as if Kuruhei’s Werdlem Energy Signature was resisting me. I guess it makes sense. The Werdlem Empire definitely would take extra precautions with experts from the Werdlem Universe.]

’So, is it done?’ Rean asked again to be certain.

[Yes,’] and Sister Orb confirmed. [Of course, because there is no Werdlem Signal here, we won’t be able to use this Signature to access the Network. We need to leave this Universe first.]

’That is easy. Alright, leave the rest to me.’ Finally, Rean could go ahead with the next part of his plan.

Suddenly, Xian’s Shadow Energy began to dissipate, growing ever more transparent. As that happened, Xian cursed. "Fuck! I don’t have... enough energy... nooooo!"

Then, the shadow energy that was trying to ’take over’ Rean’s mind burst out, dissipating in all directions.

*Argh...*

Rean fell on the ground, holding his head like he was having the worst headache of his life. "M-My head... ouch..."

Kuruhei narrowed his eyes. It was very weird. In his Divine Sense, it felt like Xian was about to win, but then, his energy began to grow even more feeble. Eventually, it just couldn’t keep itself together and disappeared. "Was it a failure?"

Rean ’tried’ to get up slowly, showing an apologetic expression. "Se-Senior Kuruhei. I’m willing to accept any pu-punishment. Bu-But... I honestly did not fight against it."

"I saw that, idiot," Kuruhei cursed back. "That useless Umbra was just too weakened. Someone, bring me another Umbra. This time, bring me one that at least looks to be in good shape."

Rean’s expression showed great fear. "S-Senior, my soul can’t take it anymore! It will collapse way before the umbra manages to take it over!"

Of course, it was all a lie. What Kuruhei was seeing with his Divine Sense was actually just an accumulation of Soul Energy that Rean put there with his Light Element. If there was someone capable of faking a soul, that one was definitely Rean, and this one looked quite frail now.

"Tch... you are even more useless. What an enormous waste of time." Kuruhei was in a bad mood, wondering if he should just get someone else.

In the end, only one question remained. "What do we do with him, friend Kuruhei?" Dlotter asked on the side.

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