The Netherworld, the Bone Wasteland.
The howling cold wind swept through the inside of a massive skull several meters high, crowned with bull horns. A gray-skinned figure huddled within it, trembling from its injuries. It could no longer concern itself with its pursuer, because it would die before long.
One-Eyed surveyed the scene inside the skull. Under the Netherworld's harsh conditions, any place capable of sheltering one from the cold wind had long since been converted into a crude shelter. It looked at the former owner of this crude shelter—a skeleton that appeared to have belonged to an aged iron-blooded hound. For a race devoted to slaughter and battle, few could actually die peacefully of old age inside a shelter.
"Cough, cough, cough~!"
The One-Eyed race let out a violent bout of dry coughing. Just as it prepared to welcome death, it suddenly noticed a golden sphere between the ribs of the canine skeleton. The sphere was about the size of a walnut, perfectly round and giving off a faint golden glow. Countless thoughts surged through its mind. This opportunity at the brink of death made it crawl over without hesitation and grip the golden sphere tightly.
The instant it grasped the golden sphere, the One-Eyed creature's single eye flew wide open. Its body rapidly dried up and withered as though it had been deflated. In a very short time, it became a skin-wrapped skeleton.
Crack~
The walnut-sized golden sphere split open. Golden liquid flowed out, gradually forming a puddle of golden divine blood about a meter across on the ground. After a brief stillness, a hand suddenly stepped out of the golden liquid and slapped down onto the pool of golden blood.
Almost at the same time, in the Netherworld, at the iron-blooded hounds' base.
Compared with its old,