Death... and me

Well, the risks were mostly for Jakar. As Rean mentioned before, receiving the Golden Feather should be safe for the most part as no Winged Provis Soul would reject its attachment. Well, that's what he thought, at least.

Rean's hair changed into a mix of black and white as he exchanged elements with Roan. However, before he started the process, he extended his hand to Jakar. "So, where is it?"

Jakar obviously knew what he was talking about. "Iridescent Tears, yeah?" He quickly took out a spatial ring and placed it in Rean's hand. "See it for yourself."

Rean nodded and also had Sister Orb check it, just to be sure. [It's the real deal. There really are two drops of Iridescent Tears here.]

Rean was happy to hear that as he looked at Jakar, telling him, "So you really got them. How did you do that? To be honest, I thought you would try to give me fake ones or wouldn't give me any at all."

"That's none of your concern." However, Jakar wasn't in the mood to discuss how he got them.

"Is that so?" Rean didn't mind it either. "That's okay. But aren't you trusting me way too much? You just gave them away without thinking twice."

"Hahahaha!" Jakar laughed in response. "We're in the Winged Provis race's territory. Once I go out and tell them what happened, do you think you could escape with the tears? There's no way!"

"That's true," Rean agreed with him. Well, Rean still had the Circuitry Teleport Formation if things did go south. Obviously, he wouldn't tell them about that. "Alright, the fact is that I had no intention of going back on my word to start with. You better be ready. Even though all I'm cutting off is the strand of soul coming out of your main mass, it'll definitely hurt like hell. Perhaps you'll even pass out because of that."

"Hmph!" Jakar didn't care. "I'm ready to die for this chance, so what's a little pain? Stop wasting time. The longer we stay here, the more suspicious it will become. I don't know how you're tricking Jansa, especially with Uncle Fran using her to watch everything. However, Uncle Fran won't be fooled for lon-"

*Swish!*

*Arrrrrrrrgghhhhhh!*

Rean didn't wait for Jakar to finish his words, though. Jakar was already keeping his soul open from the start, as Rean had explained the process to him before. He thought that acting while he was focused on something else was the best moment to prevent sudden actions.

"Alright, alright, stay still. I cut it off already. I'm now using my Light Element to cover part of the strand I cut off. Just wait for a little as I stabilize your soul," said Rean. "By the way, good job. I didn't feel any resistance while reaching your soul at all. Otherwise, you might have really died there."

Amidst his pain, Jakar couldn't help but complain, "You didn't warn me at all! Fuck you! Also, Light Element? Weren't you a Fire Element user?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. "You aren't the only one trying to hide your identity, you know? Anyways, I hope you can keep your word."

Jakar then brushed Rean's hand aside as he knew that it wasn't time for that. "Alright, we can talk about it after... ouch, it hurts like hell... I can feel that you're somehow keeping the Golden Feather alive. Put it on Kitan before it suddenly dies."

Kitan hadn't said a single word until now. However, that really shocked him. It wasn't just Light Element. He also saw Rean using the polar opposite of it, Dark Element, to cut the strand from Jakar's soul sticking to the Golden Feather with his Divine Sense. "How can you use two completely different elements? Are you an angel, are you a devil? Maybe some child of an angel and devil?"

"That's something I was born with," answered Rean as he approached Kitan. "As for my parents, they were just two completely normal humans, so I apologize for disappointing you."

Rean then took out a needle forged through the Dark Element Gathering method. "Drop your head. I need to open a hole exactly at the same point as Jakar's. You'll lose a few of your transparent feathers from your feather crown, so I hope they can regrow on their own."

"They do," Jakar answered and paid attention to the process. "As long as our Spirit Core is intact, our bodies can return to their normal forms. We're spirits, so our cores are more important than anything."

Kitan nervously lowered his head but gritted his teeth and waited for the moment. In front of him was his dream, the Golden Feather. Unlike Jakar, he truly wished to carry it and have the race's hope pinned on him. "Alright, do it! It's do or die!"

*Puff!*

*Ouch!*

Yet, all Kitan felt was a slight pinch, nothing more.

"Stop overreacting," Rean complained. "The real danger was cutting Jakar's soul strand off. As for you, it should be very straightforward." Rean then used his Light Element to stabilize the injury and attach the feather there. The same Light Element was used to guide the strand of the soul to touch Kitan's soul this time.

Sure enough, Jakar and Rean saw through their Divine Senses how part of Kitan's soul came out to receive Jakar's strand and connected to it. The soul could feel the presence of the Golden Feather and didn't seem to want anything more in this world.

With the help of Rean's Light Element, the two strands of the soul fused together as the Golden Feather shared its power with Kitan's soul. Thankfully, Rean was right. The Golden Feather itself didn't really care who carried it. As long as it was a member of the Winged Provis race, it would be compatible. Rean even wondered if he could have used the feather on Kentucky since Kentucky also had some affinity with Wind. 'Well, that would definitely create a huge enemy of the Winged Provis, so better not.'

It was then that Rean received a message from Roan. 'I hope you're done. That Jansa girl and the guy watching me through her senses already noticed that something was off. It won't be long before they attack the Dimensional Realm.'