Azrael listened to Vanessa’s warning, but for some reason, he felt as if she were merely spouting nonsense to stop them from interfering with the throne.
He could understand her reasoning. Although he himself sensed no danger from the throne, the unease in Luo Bingqing and Elyara’s voices made it clear that the black throne was making them feel deeply uncomfortable as well.
Moreover, the throne was undeniably connected to the Enders.
His task—Find the Traces of the Enders, had been marked as complete the very moment he laid eyes on it.
Although he knew little about the Enders, his past encounters had taught him one thing beyond doubt: anything related to them was unquestionably dangerous.
Because of this, Vanessa’s words about avoiding any action involving the black throne seemed, at least on the surface, perfectly logical.
’I want to sit on it...’
Azrael could not explain why, but the strange pull he felt toward the throne grew stronger with each passing second.
At some point, the sensation became so overwhelming that he stopped hearing the conversation around him. Luo Bingqing and Elyara’s voices faded into nothingness as his gaze remained locked solely on the throne.
Yet, despite the intensity of this compulsion, Azrael was not the type to act on an unfamiliar feeling without reason.
Activating his Eternal Grade Trait, Infinite Comprehension, he attempted to sense whether any danger awaited him if he were to sit upon the throne. But even with the profound perception of his trait, he detected no threat whatsoever.
’If even Infinite Comprehension reveals no danger, then it should be safe to sit on it...’ He reasoned inwardly and after carefully calculating every possibility, Azrael could no longer hold himself back.
He slowly approached the throne, his eyes fixed on its cracked, timeworn surface.
He briefly wondered whether it might collapse beneath his weight, but the thought was fleeting and without hesitation, he bent his knees and lowered himself onto the ancient seat.
"What the hell do you think you are doing, you lunatic?!"
Vanessa’s voice, trembling with both anger and fear, rang sharply in his ears. Yet, Azrael completely ignored her.
He could faintly hear Luo Bingqing and Elyara shouting as well, but the moment his body touched the throne, his mind began to blur. It was as if he were sinking into a deep, dreamlike slumber, unable to respond to anyone.
At that very instant, the entire sandcastle... No, not just the sandcastle, but the entire ancient Ruins began to quake violently, as though a massive earthquake had struck.
The already crack-filled fortress of sand started to show clear signs of collapse as outer walls and towering pillars crumbled and crashed to the ground.
Suddenly, Azrael, his consciousness still hazy felt a searing heat spreading throughout his entire body. It was as though he had been cast into a pool of molten lava, his flesh and bones set ablaze.
The black throne beneath him briefly flashed with a golden light and in that same moment, a strange energy surged from the throne and poured into his body.
The instant that golden energy entered him, the burning sensation intensified tenfold.
Even with his formidable pain tolerance, Azrael would have screamed in agony had his mind not been so clouded and his body so utterly unresponsive as the pain he was currently enduring transcended anything he had ever felt before.
From the outside, he appeared perfectly calm, sitting motionless upon the throne with a drowsy, almost sleep-like expression. Read complete versıon only at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵
But in reality, his body was experiencing excruciating pain beyond imagination. His blood churned violently, and his heart pounded so wildly it felt as though it might explode at any moment.
Then, the golden energy that had entered his body through the throne slowly began to merge with his blood.
The churning of his blood grew even more frenzied. Beneath the armor he wore, fine cracks appeared across his skin, from which thin rivulets of blood began to seep.
As the golden energy fused with his blood, the crimson liquid within his veins gradually took on a faint golden hue.
Meanwhile, outside the ancient ruins, in the depths of Rolivia Forest, squads of security forces were stationed near the site where the Transcendent Organization’s hideout had once stood.
Although the Transcendent Organization had already been eradicated, the security forces remained on high alert.
Their presence was not without reason as the portal leading to the ancient ruins lay hidden here, and its importance could not be ignored.
"Sigh... It’s a pity my level is too low. Otherwise, I would have entered the ancient ruins as well," A level-nine apprentice warrior said, his voice tinged with regret.
"It’s an ancient ruin at the peak of the epic level," His companion, who was a class-level warrior replied with a shake of his head, his tone casual and unconcerned. "Even if you were already class level, venturing inside would still be extremely dangerous."
"Even after joining the security forces, you are still as timid as ever. If I were a class-level warrior like you, I’d have gone in without hesitation."
The class-level warrior rolled his eyes at his partner’s boastful words and chose not to respond.
Unlike many others, he had no grand ambitions of becoming a high-ranking fighter. He was content with his current life and saw no reason to take unnecessary risks in the name of glory.
As they spoke, the class-level warrior suddenly caught sight of something unusual and pointed toward the sky.
"Hey... is it just me, or are the stars in the sky looking strange?" He asked in a puzzled voice.
"What are you talking about?" The level-nine warrior asked in a confused voice and followed his companion’s gaze... And the moment he looked upward, his expression froze in shock.
"What the hell is going on?" He whispered in a low voice, taking an instinctive step back in fear.
The other members of the security forces looked at the sky as well, and their faces also turned pale as, at that very moment, all the stars scattered across the Genesis took on a deep crimson hue, dyeing the entire world in an eerie, blood-red glow.