Death… And Me

Well, there wasn't much of a reason for him to worry as the twins didn't intend to go back on the terms of the contract to start with. In other words, it didn't matter whether the contract worked on them or not. Moving that aside, during the next week or so, they avoided all the ancient formations while collecting fragments. Ancient beasts were no issue either, thanks to Sally. 

Eventually, they arrived at the Dragon Beast Pool. It was just as Opacli had mentioned to them. It was very easy to find as it was very eye-catching. Sometime later, after they arrived, an opening appeared on the pool, from which another Guardian Dragon appeared. He was basically a copy of the previous two, except for the golden hue above his white scales. "So the four of you already got second stage marks. According to the rules, you are eligible to receive the third stage and form the complete Dragon Mark."

The small white dragon then looked at Sally for a moment but didn't say anything. It seemed that he had already heard about what happened between Sally and the twins' group. The small white dragon then pointed his claws at Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Hurio before a ray of golden light came out of them. That ray hit their foreheads before the Dragon Mark on their foreheads grew a head and a tail. "With this, my part is over. Until the next selection."

The small white dragon didn't want to talk at all as he quickly dove into the Light Element Pool. As for the Dragon Marks on the twins' group foreheads, the color of the various parts making up the mark didn't stay the same. Instead, the ice-blue wings and the crimson red body changed color to be the same as the tail and head. It had completely become white as snow.

Seeing that, Rean shrugged his shoulders, telling the others, "Well, let's continue our search for Fallen Light Star Fragments. We already know everything we need about this selection part, so there's no need to care too much about the guardian dragon."

Sure enough, they immediately departed after that. It was just a little sad for the Dragon Tail Brotherhood, as another group came to this same Dragon Pool a day later but only got one of their Dragon Marks completed. As it was the only remaining one in the pool since each guardian dragon could only give five, they had to go to another Dragon Pool.

Of course, many cultivators from the top ten powers ended up heading to other Beast Pools that they initially didn't have anything to do with. Those were the cultivators who lost their Beast Marks for whatever reason and decided to steal the marks from those who succeeded. Celso's group was one of them. Celso did have his own Dragon Mark, but two of his companions had the Monkey Mark and the Snake Mark, respectively, which they actually stole from others. 

In the meantime, Rean's group had gotten quite lucky. They found even more Fallen Light Star Fragments along their way to the altar at the center of the third level. In fact, most of them couldn't even be said to be hidden at all, showing how little people cared about them. However, two days prior to their arrival at the altar, they could not help but involve themselves in a surprising event.

Kentucky was flying up high in the sky above the ruins, watching to see if there were no enemies near them when he noticed something. "Hmm...?" He looked up at the sky and could see with his better eyesight that a new star seemed to have appeared in the sky. One must remember that inside the Lost Star Realm, it was possible to see the stars above the Realm of Gods, which wasn't possible outside. 

At first, he thought it was just his imagination. However, that star seemed to increase in size the more time passed. Eventually, he was certain that he wasn't wrong and immediately called Rean's group below. "Rean, Roan, look up."

Rean and Hurio looked at the sky and didn't understand what Kentucky meant. They were 10 kilometers apart as always, so they first got close to each other before asking, "What are you talking about, Kentucky?"

Kentucky quickly landed on the ground and used his wing to point in the direction of the right star. "That star over there seems to be getting closer to the Lost Star Realm."

Rean and the others narrowed their eyes after hearing that, but they couldn't see any difference. Then again, if Kentucky said so, he should be right. "Isn't that bad? If it's heading in the direction of the Lost Star Realm, then it's not a star but a meteor instead. Depending on its size, it might kill everyone here."

Hurio shook his head in response, saying, "I don't think such a thing would happen. The Lost Star Realm has been here for so long already. If that's the case, how come we didn't see any crater?"

Rean had to admit Hurio was right, shrugging his shoulders in response. "Then, should we follow it to see where it will fall?"

Kentucky looked up again and pondered in silence for a bit before saying. "I can tell more or less where it's going to fall. However, do you really want to get close to it or wait until it lands first?"

Roan immediately decided for them. "Let's go where it'll land. It's just as Hurio mentioned. There has to be something to prevent such a thing from causing a lot of damage. Who knows? Perhaps the Fallen Light Star Fragments we're picking up originate from these meteors."

Rean then looked at Sally, who surprisingly wasn't sleeping at the moment. Since she was awake, he decided to ask, "Sally, is that okay to get close to that thing?"

Sally looked at the sky after that and nodded in response. "If... danger... I... flee... with... everyone..." As always, she wasn't very good at using words. Yet, the twins' group understood that she could flee with them if necessary. With her control over spatial powers, it shouldn't be an issue.

With that, everyone hopped on Kentucky's back as the Minokawa flew in the direction of the meteor.... or whatever it was.