Death... and me

Frandin narrowed his eyes.

'I did. By the way, if you're here, that means you know what the Bloodline Marks truly are, right?'

Rean and Roan nodded, with Rean saying.

'We do. Those are human sacrifices. The Bloodline Marks are made by condensing their Souls.'

Frandin nodded.

'Exactly. Just so you know, I had no idea that it was the case before. As I mentioned, my father went through the Rank Two Bloodline Trial, not me. He simply used his own Bloodline Mark to create his family's marks. It was the first time I saw what a Bloodline Trial was.'

Rean didn't mind as he said soon after.

'If you're worried that we will complain that you used the sacrifices, you don't need to worry. We know very well that those humans don't have any other choice anymore. You don't know formations as well as I do. In any case, I can guarantee you that trying to save them would just get them killed straight away because of the trials' formations. The way they are at the moment, it's not wrong to say that they're already dead.'

Frandin sighed in relief after hearing that.

'From the looks of it, you also got your Bloodline Marks.'

Rean and Roan nodded.

'We did. But we want to hear about your test instead.'

Frandin then continued.

'When I stepped on the diagram on the ground and touched the sacrifice's forehead, my consciousness was pulled into some kind of illusion world. Later I understood that this illusion world was made based on the memories of that human.'

'Inside there, the human still had some of its consciousness remaining, and I believe the others have it as well. However, it seems like the last remains of sentience only appear when the trial starts.'

Rean wasn't surprised by that. He already expected that much after he analyzed the seal on the humans back then. Besides, Luna told Roan that the Zasfin would need to convince their sacrifices to accept to be their Soul Marks. To convince them, they would need to be conscious. As for what kind of approach they used, that was their problem.

'Let me guess, that human obviously hated your presence there in his illusion world. After all, it was you, Zasfins, who put them there to start with. We also know that this is why the Bloodline Trials can fail since your sacrifices simply hate you guys. Besides, the higher the rank of the Bloodline Trial, the stronger the sacrifice's Soul will be, making it even harder.'

Frandin nodded. He also understood that when his trial started.

'Exactly. As you mentioned, that guy went all out against me in his illusion world. I was lost at what to do as well. After all, I didn't know what I was supposed to accomplish there. Just how was I supposed to get the Bloodline Mark with this method? No one explained it to me.'

Frandin continued.

'However, there was one point in the trials. I could use Soul Force to resist and even counterattack that human in his illusion world.'

Rean and Roan were not surprised by that. One must remember that each trial rank had a minimal amount of Soul Power required to be taken. Naturally, Soul Power must be used somewhere, and now they know that it was used inside those illusion worlds.

'It seems like you had a very hard time resisting that human's attack.'

Frandin nodded.

'It can't be helped. Do you remember the Soul Power requirement? My own Soul Power was smaller than the necessary amount. Also, I couldn't use my actual Bloodline Mark when inside the Illusion World, only my raw power. That's why they measure your raw power alone in the Bloodline Trial Offices, I guess.'

That was the part that puzzled Rean and Roan. In theory, Frandin should have failed and then tried again until his Soul Power ran out.

'However, your bloodline trial finished almost at the same time as ours. Obviously, you succeeded on the first try. How did you do that?'

Frandin scratched the back of his head.

'I believe it was because of you two...'

That only puzzled the twins even more.

'Us? But we didn't do anything.'

Frandin then explained.

'You do know that humans hate us because of how we treat them, right? During my time inside the illusion world, it wasn't just the human memories that could be seen. I don't know how, but there was some kind of connection between my Soul and his own. Because of that, he could also see my own. However, it wasn't at the same level as his. He could only see my most recent memories for some reason.'

'As we battled, we shared our experiences until he suddenly called for a time out. The memories he saw were the ones where we traveled together, and I helped you. From that point onward, that battle turned into a weird conversation. I explained to him that I wasn't doing it on purpose. That I was being forced because of the poison that Roan fed me. Well, he knew that as well since he saw the moments that I took the poison and the partial antidotes to keep it at bay.'

Roan couldn't help but ask.

'If he knew that, then there shouldn't be a reason for him to stop the battle, much less trust you. What's happening here?'

Frandin nodded as he answered.

'Beats me. He already knew, but I still told him that I finally got the complete antidote, so I didn't have anything to do with you anymore. There was no reason for him to look so calm. However, that was the moment everything changed. He simply decided that he would allow me to use his Soul to become my Bloodline Mark. From the looks of it, he already knew that he would disappear the moment the trial failed as well.'

Rean and Roan nodded. They already hypothesized that outcome back in the last chamber that each failed trial would wipe out the Soul of the human selected for it. From what Frandin said, it seemed like it was the truth. That made sense since the Zasfins wouldn't allow the humans to keep part of their own memories either.

'Still, why did he suddenly decide to give you his Soul? Becoming a Bloodline Mark was also considered death for him. Why would he choose to die while helping you? I could understand if you used your Soul Power to torture his Soul in the Illusion World. That's how the other Zasfins have been doing it for sure. But it wasn't the same in your case, right?'

Frandin lightly laughed in self-deprecation.

'Hehe... Even if I wanted to, my Soul Power was too weak to do such a thing. You must remember that I'm participating in this trial with a lot less than the necessary amount needed.'

Frandin continued.

'The illusion world began to disappear right after. At the last moment, I asked him why he would do that. He simply said that it was still better to give me the Soul Mark than dying since I at least helped the humans, even if it was against my will.'

Rean and Roan thought it to be quite weird. If it were them, they most likely wouldn't have done that either way. Why would that guy decide to do it? It wasn't like Frandin had become their friend or anything.

'Well, I guess it all depends on the person. If that was his choice, then we are not the ones to judge it.'

Roan agreed with Rean on that.

However, Frandin mentally sighed right after. Everything he had said so far was the truth. However, there was one thing he didn't tell the twins. At those last moments, the guy added one last piece to his motives.

'Hahaha! You helped them against your will. That much is obvious... but just halfway through the journey. I can feel it through our momentaneous connection. You have improved so much that you almost can't believe it. Besides, you might deny it, but deep down, your life had never been so exciting. You just can't help but think about what else could happen. Compared to the dull life you had back then, this one is much, much better. Well, whether you will accept this or not, that's up to you. I'll give you a little help, so bring my Bloodline Mark with you.'

Not long after that, Frandin's consciousness came back to his body. Following that, the same sacrifice happened. The guy's Soul left his body and was condensed into a Bloodline Mark that entered Frandin's forehead. As for the previous Bloodline Mark, it was wiped away by the stronger one. Not to mention that Frandin's previous mark wasn't an original one but a subproduct of his father's mark.

Frandin didn't know what to think after that. Exciting life? He had almost died many times during Roan's Death Style training. Not to mention that he had made quite a few enemies since he joined the twins. Did he really like it? At the very least, the human used as sacrifice believed so. But what about him?

The answer appeared as soon as he found Rean and Roan again. That's because the chamber's door he used to enter the trial was closed. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't go back to where the twins' group stayed. However, he couldn't help but feel relieved that he was able to see them again. Wasn't that proof enough that he wanted to continue this adventure?

Rean then looked at Frandin before saying.

'Well, that's good for you. Anyway, your poison is already healed, so we will let you go after leaving this place. Since we brought you inside, we might as well see you out. After that, you're on your own.'

Roan nodded. That was the plan from the start.

Frandin was taken aback. Things didn't go as he expected at all.