Modret stared at Axel for a long while, noticing the confidence in his eyes.

Ultimately, he shook his head, not knowing what he was thinking…

He turned to the Fairy internally, 'Is there a chance he can awaken a bloodline?'

The Fairy fell silent, pondering for a moment before answering.

{Normally it shouldn't be possible to awaken a bloodline from scratch; however, his case is a little uncertain.}

'Uncertain?'

{I don't know how to put it into words, but let's just watch and see how things play out. If he awakens a bloodline, it should be to his benefit, right?}

'I know,' Modret sighed, 'I just don't want him to feel any more pain than he already has…'

The Fairy fell silent too. As someone who had access to Modret's memories, she also felt extreme pity for Axel. Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything about it.

Modret's thoughts were pulled back to the Old Man. He was seated on a rock, mumbling incoherent words, which caused Modret's lips to twitch repeatedly.

Exhaling lightly, he turned and shifted his gaze to the endless Abyss.

'Fairy, what do you say about falling into the Abyss to explore its depths for me?'

The Fairy's eyes twitched at the order.

{There's no need to do that. What if I alert certain entities in the depths of the Abyss? Then you'll definitely lose your life. On the contrary, I can hear what the Old Man is saying. Would you like to know that instead?}

'Oh? You could actually hear him?' Modret felt the urge to spank the Fairy. Why didn't she say that earlier?

'Yeah, I'd like to know what he's been rambling about that he can't focus on doing one simple thing,' Modret said internally in annoyance.

The Fairy flew over to the Old Man, her dazzling starlight watching over him as she leaned in closer.

His expression didn't change, but the Fairy could understand what he was saying.

{He is muttering incoherent words, but I can completely translate them.}

'Yeah, do that.' Modret was already bored of hearing the Old Man's strange muttering.

{According to him, one can stay seven days here, for which one day will pass in the outside world.}

{However,}

The Fairy's voice suddenly sounded solemn.

{If seven days pass here—meaning one day has passed in the outside world, a complete circle of twelve hours of sunlight and twelve hours of darkness—one will forever remain stuck here.}

{Most likely, he heard this from someone, and since remaining stuck here, he has continuously repeated the same thing to try to keep himself sane. Unfortunately, it has become part of his madness.}

Modret's expression changed drastically, his face becoming unsightly.

'How long have we spent here?' he couldn't help but ask.

{It should be a day and a half now. You still have roughly five days left.}

'Fuck!' Modret cursed internally. His heart quickened, and he struggled to stay calm and rationalize his thoughts.

'I can't remain stuck in this S-Rank Celestial Gate. I will definitely escape the Endless Abyss!' Modret thought, his face filled with resolve.

He turned to the Fairy again. 'Is he saying anything else?'

{No, he is repeating the same statements over and over again…}

'I see.' Modret began pacing, waiting for the Old Man to recover his sanity.

A few hours passed in tense silence, and just when Modret could feel the Endless Abyss threatening to swallow his consciousness, he finally heard movement from the side.

'No wonder the Old Man lost his sanity. I've just stayed here, and the endless darkness already feels like it might swallow me at any moment.'

'I must applaud this Old Man. Who knows how long he has stayed here?' Modret finally understood the kind of monstrous willpower the Old Man possessed to even maintain his sanity this long.

The Old Man walked toward the Celestials and completely extracted the blood.

Modret didn't wait for his order. Without hesitation, black flames erupted like a fountain from his hands and engulfed both pots.

A strange scent drifted into the air, and gradually, bubbling sounds echoed through the void, fading into the distance before returning to Modret's ears in countless reverberations.

The process lasted a long time before the Old Man finally mixed both bloodlines.

Then he made the strange hand seals once more and ordered Modret to keep releasing the endless Null Flames.

'Fairy, that series of strange seals he does… is it some sort of ability?'

{That is an Ancient Art, not belonging to the Era of Ability Awakeners.}

'The Ancient Art? Era of Ability Awakeners? What the hell, Fairy?'

The Fairy let out a sigh.

{These are not things you should know for now; they will only burden you with unknown thoughts. I won't tell you more about the different Eras.}

'Dammit, Fairy, what's that supposed to mean? Does that mean there are countless Eras and what the Old Man said was true?'

'His Era was destroyed by Celestial Gates. Could it be that the others were destroyed by Celestial Gates too? And what about our Era of Ability Awakeners? Are the Celestial Gates meant to be our death sentence?'

Modret threw out multiple questions; however, the Fairy just vanished into white specks of light.

This was the first time Modret had seen the Fairy behave like this. His brows furrowed in anger, but ultimately he didn't say anything.

"Enough. Drink," the Old Man's incoherent voice entered Modret's mind, causing his anger to boil over.

He turned to Axel.

The youth walked toward the Bloodline Potion and raised it to his lips.

Modret's curiosity overrode his frustration, and even the Old Man couldn't help but look at Axel, his eyes filled with wonder.

Axel didn't hesitate. He gulped down the transparent liquid, feeling the soothing, cool sensation enter his mouth and flow down his throat.

A strange aura began to form around him, and black cracks started surfacing across his body.

Crack… crack…

Modret and the Old Man heard the sound of something shattering inside Axel's body.

Axel's face twisted, and he seemed to be in great pain.

A groan escaped his tightly clenched lips as he tried to endure the indescribable agony.

Gradually, the cracks spread around his body, and for a moment, he seemed as though he would shatter apart at any second.

Modret's heart skipped a beat, but thankfully, the cracks began to close and regenerate.

A smile suddenly formed on Axel's face, spreading onto Modret's as well.

Just then, Axel's smile froze, and a wry expression appeared on his face.

He raised his right hand, showing Modret a single finger—then burst apart into countless fragments.

Each fragment dispersed into shadows.

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