Death... and me

"Soul Reincarnation Contest?" Rean felt that the phrase was somewhat familiar. 'Where have I heard about it?'

Roan, on the other hand, immediately remembered his job as a Death Spirit back on the other side of the Universe. 'That was what I tried to do with you back on the other side, idiot.'

'Oh!' Sure enough, that was indeed Roan's job. 'You were quite bad at it. You couldn't even deal with a single soul.'

Roan's mouth twitched after hearing that. What did he mean by a single soul? Roan had never encountered any other soul capable of doing any actions at all back there. Rean was a complete anomaly due to the Soul Gem System. It was different on this side, where souls with high enough cultivation could bring their memories with them.

Nevertheless, he decided to ignore Rean as there were more important matters in front of him. "Are the devils in the Underworld the ones responsible for the Path of Reincarnation?"

"Not exactly the Path of Reincarnation," Fagund answered. "Only guiding them to enter it. I heard when you said you were born in the Realm of Gods, so it's normal that you don't know about it. Not to mention that only devils from important bloodlines are allowed to do such a job."

Fagund continued to explain. "Of course, if we make you part of our Light Devil Clan, you'll be allowed to do that as well. The problem is that only devils below the Space Bending Realm can enter the area where the dead souls arrive. In order to not let the area overflow with way too many dead souls, the devil clans guide them into the Path of Reincarnation."

The twins could only imagine. "That's the place where all the dead souls appear. With the number of living beings in existence, just how many dead souls would appear there every second? Surely it would be in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. Perhaps millions? How do you even take care of all of that?"

Fleus, who had been silent for a while now, decided to answer that. "I've been there as a member of the Light Devil Clan. To be more specific, there aren't that many dead souls for us to take care of. It's just as you mentioned, the number would be too great. The truth is that most of the dead souls already fall straight inside the Path of Reincarnation. The souls we take care of are the souls that end up not falling inside the path. It's just a fraction of the total amount. In any case, if we just leave it be, there would be too many of them. Believe me, the last thing you want to see is that place getting too crowded with souls. If that happens, a Soul Devil might appear."

"Soul Devil?" For some reason, that name reminded Rean and Roan of the devil's soul inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. That was a very, very strong soul. What if it wasn't a soul of a dead devil but a Soul Devil instead?

Fagund continued from there. "Soul Devils are born from the agglomeration of too much soul energy and dead memories. They're really hard to deal with since they don't have physical bodies. Even if we devils use souls to cultivate, we still rely on our bodies for that. On the other hand, Soul Devils are different. Worst than that is the fact that they would acquire the memories of countless experts. Because of that, Soul Devils are often crazy. They simply don't have a controlled sense of self."

"I've never seen one, but that's what I heard. The Soul Devils will quickly gather more and more souls from their surroundings. Since they're basically jumbled souls, their minds get even crazier without any control. Unfortunately, they also get stronger. Imagine a Soul Devil as strong as an Elder Devil and with the memories of countless dead beings. Just how many skills can they use there?"

Rean and Roan had to admit that didn't seem good. "We wouldn't want to be up against such a being for sure. By the way, can a Soul Devil retain self-control? Perhaps its own sentience, separating it from the memories it accumulates from the souls it absorbed?"

Fagund nodded, telling them, "Not only is it possible, one of the strongest experts among the devils just so happens to be a Soul Devil."

"Really?" That surprised the twins. "And doesn't he care about the devil clans' efforts to prevent Soul Devils from appearing?"

"Care? Hahaha!" Fagund couldn't help but laugh out loud in response. "Another Soul Devil would just mean one of them would devour the other. Nothing is scarier for a Soul Devil than another Soul Devil. After all, they're each other's main source of power. If anything, the only Soul Devil in the Underworld will definitely do his best to prevent another intelligent Soul Devil from appearing."

"I see..." Roan agreed that it made sense.

Fagund smiled after that. "You don't need to be afraid of some Soul Devil deciding to take revenge during the contest or whatever. You seem to be very careful with every detail, so I just wanted to clarify that."

Fleus also added something. "It's possible that you'll see the moment a Soul Devil starts to form. If you do, attack it straight away. It takes a long time for the souls to gather in high enough concentration to form a Soul Devil. Even when they do, they'll be very weak, no stronger than a Foundation Establishment being. Don't worry. The devils have a well-encompassed scouting routine. No Soul Devil was able to grow for a very long time."

Rean and Roan still thought about their own devil in the Dimensional Realm. "So, who is this Soul Devil? Do you know him?"

Fagund and the others shook their heads in response. "No one has seen that Soul Devil for a very long time. All the actual Light Devil Clan Master knows is that he's still alive. We do know his name, though. Everyone calls him Beelzebub."