Chapter 2000 Why Work?
As he said that, Mephisto glanced at the twins as they made their way out of the hall. For now, he couldn't do anything since the other Elder Devils were keeping a close eye on him. Then again, he didn't mind it. He would have thought the same thing as the other Elder Devils if he were in their shoes. 'I'll have to wait for an opportunity to check it.'
In the center of the meeting hall, a formation was immediately activated, connecting all the participants in the contest. In terms of purpose, it was pretty similar to Watching Soul Eyes Rui used before. The difference was that all the Elder Devils, as well as the High Devils, had access to them. Through it, they could see every single participant.
The moment they traversed into the Path of Reincarnation's periphery, Rui and the other Elder Devils looked back at Mephisto. "So, bring it out again."
Mephisto faintly smiled in response and took out the Underworld Relic once more. This time, however, it didn't cause any trouble for the twins. Just like Mephisto said, it couldn't react to the twins because of the barrier surrounding the Path of Reincarnation.
Rui and the Elder Devils used their Divine Senses and nodded in satisfaction. They could feel the Relic's presence and confirmed it was the real deal. Only then did they calm down and turn their attention to the formation in the meeting hall.
"By the way, where is Belial?" Suddenly, Malado asked in the room.
Mephisto immediately answered, "He's in the Realm of Gods. We had to keep some Elder Devils there in case the other races decide to attack before the time we thought they will."
Belial was the Elder Devil who had a Universe Foundation Fragment in his possession. Or, at least, that's what the twins' father, Turen, said when they met back then.
Rui found it a little surprising. "So that's how it is. It's quite surprising he was willing to do this kind of defensive task."
"Not really," Eishetha answered with a shrug. "He does have that thing to help him, so perhaps he sees that threat as an opportunity. You all know he isn't the kind of Elder Devil to move without reason."
"True." Everyone nodded in response, wondering if they should go to the Realm of Gods earlier because of that.
Near the Path of Reincarnation's periphery, a devil appeared in front of the participants and began to explain the rules. "You will have three days to guide souls. We don't care what method you use as long as you don't attack other participants. Well, no one can attack other devils in the Path of Reincarnation's periphery anyway. At least not at your level."
It was very simple but also direct.
"Don't forget that only the devil with the most souls will be counted as the winner. As to whether the others help a single devil or work on their own, that's your problem. You will be watched by the Elder and High Devils at every instance, so make sure to put on a good show. That's all. You can go now."
With that, all the participants rushed inside the Path of Reincarnation's periphery, although they quickly spread out in several directions. It would be idiotic to fight the other participants as they knew they all had strong Soul Guiding Power. If they fought someone, other participants would take the lead while they fought, after all.
Back at the meeting hall...
"Hey, look, Doyis is already starting!" Elder Devil Mavis obviously called out for his protegee as the other Elder and High Devils focused their attention on the formation.
Sure enough, Doyis was the first one to try to guide the dead souls. His Soul Guiding Power shone through the area, attracting all the souls towards his bracelet. One after another, they entered it, quickly starting to fill the item.
"Good, good. The boy is lucky. He found an area with many souls before anyone else did." Mavis was obviously happy to see that.
However, it didn't stop there. The other two devils in Doyis's group went ahead and began to do the same thing. They didn't guide the souls into their bracelets, though. Instead, they held the souls around their bracelets and waited.
Doyis, who finished taking the souls previously, immediately moved to those two's sides and used his own Soul Guiding Power to take the souls from them. Each clan had three members, after all. It would be idiotic if they didn't work together. Let's not forget that victory would be given to the devil that guided most souls into the Path of Reincarnation.
"Not bad." Moloch recognized their good teamwork. Though, he didn't care much as he waited for his own group to start their work.
On the other side, Eisheta saw that her own devils also found an area with quite a few dad souls. However, their approach was different from Doyis's group. Timboa, the lead devil in their group, stayed in the middle before all of them activated their Soul Guiding Powers at the same time.
However, they didn't work as a separate power. Instead, the Soul Guiding Power from Timboa's helper joined her own, creating an even stronger Soul Guiding Power. With that, the Soul Guiding Power they had was amplified by almost three times, reaching much greater distances and attracting all dead souls in its range.
Seeing that, the Elder Devils looked at Eisheta, surprised. "You can do that?"
Eisheta laughed out loud in response. "Hahaha! This contest has always been about teamwork, right? That's what I had them work on."
"But, how can their Soul Guiding Power fuse like that? Soul Guiding Powers are just like Divine Senses. There aren't identical ones. That shouldn't happen!" Rui still found it strange.
However, Eisheta just continued to smile. "Is that so? Then so be it. You don't really think I'll tell you how I did that, do you? This could very well become a contest dominated by my Flata Clan in the future, so don't expect to find an answer from me."
Even Mephisto had a dark expression now that he saw it. He thought the twins would have been his main issue during this competition. Unfortunately, he was wrong. That fused Soul Guiding Power from the Flata Clan wasn't any worse than what Rean and Roan did. If anything, it was even better, way better!
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Then again, that method had its flaw, and everyone understood what it was. They would require all three Flata Clan members to stay side by side. As big as the region they could cover was, it wasn't the same as having three devils in three different places at the same time working separately. That meant the Flata Clan would rely solely on areas with high concentrations of dead souls, which they had to find first. If the others hoped to catch up, they would have to optimize their teamwork even more.
Meanwhile, Rean, Roan, and Titia were flying leisurely in the Path of Reincarnation's periphery, not working at all.
Rean looked below, seeing a few other devils that had nothing to do with the competition every now and then. "How are we going about this?"
Roan pondered for a moment. "We have three days, so it should be enough."
Titia, who was ordered to follow the twins, couldn't help but ask, "Three days isn't a lot. Why are we waiting?"
Roan faintly smiled in response. "Why work when there are those who can do the job for us?"