Death... and me

[Exactly. If you want this formation to stop, you have to do that after you get far away from this Island. The best-case scenario is to be out of the Central Area altogether.]

Naturally, Rean understood what the issue was. 'I can set up a formation that will destroy the runes of this one after a certain time. However, we would need to leave this place, and the Archangel would definitely come inside and stop it. We only have a few minutes, according to Jeskli, so I can't set up anything complicated.'

[That's not all,] Sister Orb continued. [Don't forget we NEED the Fragment if we want to join both sides of the Universe. Now that the Archangel has come inside this place, can you guarantee he hasn't spread the method to do it to someone else? Even if we somehow succeed in getting rid of the Archangel and leave this place, there is no way to be certain no one else will come later. We are talking about a Fragment of the Universe Foundation. All races will ignore all rules and come after this Fragment without thinking twice, even if we tell them the Fragment's removal will destroy the Floating Islands of Time.]

Roan narrowed his eyes. 'We are doomed if we do nothing, and we are doomed if we do anything. Whatever choice we make, the end result is that the Fragment will be taken away soon or later. The Floating Islands of Time is done for.'

'You can't say that,' Rean disagreed. 'It might be possible to defend the Fragment.'

'Naive!' Roan immediately retorted. 'You have to recognize when you are out of options. No, it is not like we have no options. Instead, we have a very obvious one. We should take the Fragment straight away and get as far as possible from this place.'

'What about the Minokawas?' Rean immediately asked back.

Roan shook his head. 'They will have to rely on themselves and flee from this place. Fortunately, they are very far from the central area, so they should, in theory, have enough time to get away as the Spatial Rift increases in size.'

[I'm not really happy about it, but I have to agree with Roan. If the Fragment's removal is a foregone conclusion, then we might as well be the ones to do it. Just throw me at the Sphere of Time and Space. We already know it has no power against me. I will absorb the Fragment, and we will leave immediately.]

Rean found it strange. 'Weren't you the one who said that we would die in the Spatial Rift if we took the Fragment away? How come you saying we can take it now?'

[Simple, we will have to gamble,] Sister Orb answered.

Roan understood where Sister Orb was coming from. 'You want us to use the Circuitry Teleport Formation even though the Space Laws will be in the middle of chaos. Simply put, we have no idea where we would be thrown on this side of the Universe. Even the Mortal Realm is a possibility.'

[Exactly. However, we would be able to take the Fragment away with us. You should immediately contact Jeskli and tell him to relinquish the battle against the Archangel and flee. If he goes all out, he can get through the barrier that trapped us inside this place.]

'What about Kentucky?' Rean asked once again. 'He is still outside waiting for us.'

[Obviously, only Jeskli can take him and Lily away in time. Do you think Jeskli would give up the Regal Minokawa? Also, it is good if Jeskli saves Kentucky once the Fragment is removed from this place.]

Roan knew why. 'With our connection with Kentucky, we can at least tell in which direction the Realm of Gods is located. As long as we are inside the same Universe, that is.'

'All of this is way too risky!' Rean truly didn't like that option. 'First of all, we are considering the Circuitry Formation will work for us. It couldn't be that you forgot, right? It is only a chance! If we try to use the Circuitry Teleport Formation within a messed space environment, chances are we will fall into a Spatial Storm and be shredded to pieces. The thing about ending somewhere random in the Universe is only if we are lucky enough!'

[Then what do you want to do? We might as well just go back to Jeskli and tell the Archangel we are leaving. I doubt Jeskli will accept it, though. In that case, we can only try to get as far away as possible on our own, going through the Spatial Rifts that even Jeskli had a hard time defending in this central area.]

[I'll be honest. Since Jeskli definitely will not accept to flee, we will have to flee on our own. That means we will need to risk our luck within the Central Area and most likely die to those invisible Spatial Rifts. And that is not considering the Archangel's existence at all. Since chances of dying are high, we might as well risk our deaths in the Circuitry Teleport Formation after obtaining the Fragment.]

Roan closed his eyes for a moment. 'We can most likely die if we try to leave the Fragment behind. We can most likely die if we take the Fragment with us. Rean, stop complaining and let's just do it. You should have understood by now that things don't always go the way we want. That's how the cultivation world works. I'm going back into the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm with Luan. You contact Jeskli with your communication badge once you are ready.'

Rean gritted his teeth and was just about to accept the offer when suddenly, an idea appeared in his mind. 'We still have a few minutes, you said, right?' He then began to walk in the direction of the formation. 'There is one thing I haven't tried yet. Since there are memories from the Archangel in this thing, I might as well look into it and see if I can use anything there to our favor.'

Roan narrowed his eyes. 'Fine. Share your mind with me so that I can help with the burden. But you only have until the battle between Jeskli and the Archangel ends.' Roan would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about the Archangel. That's why he accepted Rean's idea. Not to mention Roan also didn't like the almost certain death option.