Dyne was able to dash back to the cave. As he was moving alone, he could use the Golden Compass and the Chicken King. With Grim shooting fireballs when the Apes weren’t looking, Dyne created chaos and began to draw the attention of the Kong Apes. Dyne would lead some of the Kong Apes towards some of the hidden predators that waited nearby.

Soon, the Kong Apes were fighting different monsters that had been hiding near the cave.

“How did you know that I need Death Energy and not Life Energy?” Jedo asked.

“Hrm? Why are you asking this?”

“In your memories, you’ve always known that Ra-Seru’s get stronger through Genesis Trees and become weaker in the Mist. Yet you knew I needed Death Energy.” Jedo explained.

“Ah. Well, it's simple, really. I’ve done a bit of reading on the wiki pages of Legaia and know of the existence of the light novel of Legend of Legaia. Although I haven’t read the light novel, I know that Cort found Jedo and corrupted him with the Mist. This makes you the only Ra-Seru that is also a Sim-Seru who draws powers from the Mist. But of course, Tieg or Strafe wouldn’t necessarily follow that path. Rather, I became more and more sure that he wouldn’t follow that path as I cultivated. You definitely won’t become an evil Ra-Seru because Cort got his hands on you. That doesn’t fit the path of cultivation. Not to mention, the Legaia that Strafe made is far more complicated compared to the one in the game.” Dyne explained.

“Indeed. The situation in the world of Legaia is not as simple as it was in the game. The Monster Kings are present, and many were even drawn to me. Not to mention there was that young Koru that you saw. This proves that even among the Sim-Seru’s, they are often fighting for their power.” Jedo explained.

“I noticed. I mean, you were trying to awaken yourself forcibly back when I met you, causing Peco, Koru, the Stone Serpent, and those wild monsters to lust after your power. The easiest way that I deduced you needed Death Energy was the fact that you were drawing the Mist to yourself. So I begin to ponder on this. But thanks to Calamitus Slime’s alchemy tutorial, I learned about it.”

“Learned about it?”

“Death in Life and Life in Death. The Slime God, the person who equaled Tieg and nearly killed me, was a Darkness Cultivator. So I wondered… How did he get strong? And then I thought about you. Why were you gathering the Mist? And lastly, why was the West Voz Forest's Genesis Tree unaffected from the Mist? Rim Elm had a natural wind that blew the Mist. This would make it difficult for the moving Mist to reach Rim Elm. In the game, the wind stopped blowing, so the Mist arrived. As for Mount Rikuroa, it was at the peak of the mountain. This would have also been a place the Mist couldn't reach with ease. I thought the Genesis tree in East Voz Forest would die because it was closer, but why didn't the West Voz Forest die if the Mist can move at command? I'm guessing that it's because you were the Ra-Seru in the West Voz Forest.”

“So you’ve noticed it.”

“Right. There should be Death in Life and Life and Death. So in Legaia, you have a lot of Ra-Serus, and all use Light to grow stronger. Where then is the Death in that? Then I deduced that in that balance was Yami. A Dark Ra-Seru. Of course, now it’s you.” Dyne explained.

“Correct. Seeing the memory, you have of the game explains how I became a Ra-Seru and a Sim-Seru. It seems like you already found out. I am the only Ra-Seru now that can grow stronger through Death. Yami was a Ra-Seru that was born from the Laws of Death itself.”

“Makes sense. Summoning your magic in the game creates an instant death on the enemies. I think that’s why the Fate in Legaia was so adamant in getting you back because the game dictates I get you last. It's because you are, objectively speaking, the most powerful Ra-Seru in the game.” Dyne smiled.

“Good, you know that.”

“But man… Am I disappointed! If darkness and time are this easy, I should have just gone with Terra or Mule. In time I’d master Time/Space and then Darkness in no time! You have proven a bit useless, to be honest.”

Jedo began to hurl curses at Dyne, who ignored Jedo and focused on moving towards the cave.

Dyne was sure to give another stomp at the poor Kong Ape who’s head was still stuck on the ground.

Dyne entered the large cave and began to move deeper and deeper.

The death energy grew prevalent in the air as Dyne moved in.

There was a long winding path going downwards, and Dyne used the Golden Compass carefully to avoid being seen by the Kong Apes.

The place was full of dead monsters, humans, and the like. A thick wave of Death Energy was gathered in certain areas.

“The sanctity of this place has been fouled!” Dyne said to follow the lines in the game.

Jedo and Strafe rolled their figurative eyes at the very nerdy actions of Dyne.

Dyne could see that some of the dead humans weren’t as well equipped as the cultivators that accompanied Jaden.

“They must be from Merkley. It seems that the magic surrounding this ritual is to make this place full of death energy…” Dyne noted.

“There seems to be something in here that allows the Death Energy to fester. Like the Mist, this place will soon raise undead. But this kind of raw energy… is nourishment to me.” Jedo laughed with an insidious tone.

“Can you absorb it?” Dyne asked Jedo with a suspicious tone.

“Of course, I can!” Jedo cursed.

“Just checking. But don’t absorb too much that an area will suddenly lose all Death energy. If you do, they might detect that something is wrong. I trust you can do that much?”

Jedo began to gather the energy while muttering various curses at Dyne.

As Dyne moved deeper, he could see a Kong Ape in the path patrolling and would occasionally check the bodies to make sure that they were dead.

Dyne frowned. He had to kill this creature without raising alarms, and choking that monster is impossible to grant his current strength as he couldn’t one-shot an Ape or use his martial strength to kill it.

Dyne thought for a bit and brought out Grim.

“Hey, Jedo. With the thick death energy in this place, is it possible for you to do the same thing that that butcher made? Only do it on Grim?”

“You want to make a death blade? With Grim, you’d have a miniature version of Deadly Promise.” Jedo recounted the name of the skill that the Jedo in Legend of Legaia could do.

“Yeah. Is it possible?”

“My current strength isn’t enough. But if I borrow the death energy in this room and use it to cover Grim, it should be enough. But the energy that I will consume will drain the death energy locked on this place.”

“It’s alright. At least we can still move. I need to move without getting detected. I don’t want to get to Alert Mode or Evasion Mode.”

Jedo sighed and rolled his figurative eyes as Dyne talked using Metal Gear Solid terms again.

“Let’s do this then.” Dyne gripped Grim.

“Wait. I forget that Grim isn’t just a Fire Seru but a Light Seru! This will make it more difficult.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dyne held Grim, and the Light energy was drawn towards Dyne’s Elemental Soul Seed.

Jedo felt his figurative face twitch at the sight of Dyne harnessing the energy of Grim, making Grim a Fire Seru again. He didn’t understand how Dyne could do that.

But as he was slowly getting used to Dyne’s disgusting ability, Jedo continued and began to harness the dark energy making Grim pitch black.

“Move now! I can’t maintain this- Oh.” Jedo realized that Dyne did something to compress the energy within Grim.

“Don’t worry, Jack. I got your back! I can help you wield the Dark energy since I’m like half a Ra-Seru.” Dyne chuckled.

"Am I the Ra-Seru? Or is he the Ra-Seru?!" Jedo secretly cursed.

Dyne then ran and used the Golden Compass. In a manner of seconds, he reached the Kong Ape and hacked the beast with his scythe.

SLICE!

Grim slashed through and moved past the neck of the Kong Ape as if it struck air. There was no resistance in that slash. Through the harnessed Dark Energy, Grim became an extremely sharp scythe that easily sliced through the Kong Ape.

The decapitated head of the Kong Ape fell.

“That was fun.” Dyne laughed as he and Jedo released the Dark energy around Grim. Grim was also sent back into Jedo’s soul space.

“With this, I think we can match that Butcher who must be doing something similar with his weapon.” Dyne analyzed.

“I’m curious to see what it is. It must be an interesting weapon that transcends the common sense in Legaia.”

“It must be. In Star Ocean, the swords and weapons that the team use has various elemental form and other special powers. Unlike the ones, we use in Legaia. I can’t wait to bring the drops of the enemies here into Legaia!”

Dyne continued to move towards the inside of the cave, being careful to move as if he was playing Metal Gear Solid. He continued to harness the energy on the many points in the cave.

Although Dyne could sense where the core of the formation was, Dyne didn’t move towards it immediately but circled the entire region. He managed to kill three more Kong Apes and even stored the dead bodies inside Monster Hive.

Soon, Dyne even brought in several fallen creatures that had a powerful life force.

“Hrm?” Dyne noticed a room that had a light. A strange jewel was found inside that lit up the room. Various books on several bookcases were present, and various armors were placed nearby in a stack.

“This is…?” Jedo wondered.

“This must be the room of that person, Char the Evil… Now I wonder… Which of these books can I absorb?” Dyne smiled with an evil and hungry expression.