Chapter 177: Dead?  

The last stage: Erudite palace establishment, was to merge the power of their Altar spirits in the palace by imposing a rule.

This rule can be without any actual power, and they just need to make a verbal rule inside their palace so that their Altar spirits can be baptized by the Rule power of the universe and merge their source ( Soul Altars ) and their powers into the Erudite palace.

After sitting down, Athan used his domain and told his altar spirits to do the same. After that, Athan spoke as he looked at his Altar spirits, " From now on, Your sources are connected to the palace, and you are the Ruler's guards. You will support and protect the Ruler; that is me. This is the rule. "

" WE OBEY THE RULER. "

".....OBEY THE MASTER. "

*

" Ahh..sorry...I mean RULER. " Lucent messed up as a whimper released from its mouth in embarrassment.

Athan shook his head with a smile and observed them.

All three of them suddenly felt an overwhelming power pressuring upon them for a second before the Rule power of the universe baptized them as their body structure started to change on a fundamental level, and they became stronger than before.

Outside...

Athan and Tiana opened their eyes as they finally broke through to the Ruler plane. But Athan still had something to do, so he said to Tiana, " Wait for a while, I need to do something. "

Saying this, He once again closed his eyes and brought out all of the Rule fragments of Blood type rule he comprehended.

The blood-red rule fragments started shining right after entering the Erudite palace as they slowly disappeared because they were engraved inside the palace.

" Rule of Flexile Blood..." Athan spoke as he felt newfound power inside him. Now his blood magic spells will also become more powerful than before, easily matching the peak-level people and their condensed rule domain because the magic he and others received seemed to be more powerful than rule domains.

After he was finished, He didn't do anything anymore and opened his eyes outside while the golden orb that was a lot smaller compared to when they received it first was silently floating inside the palace.

Tiana saw Athan opening his eyes and asked curiously, " What were you doing? I sensed a complete rule from you just now. "

Athan smiled and nodded, " Yep, I comprehended this rule when I received the Blood magic of versatile covenant. This magic thingy is really very good as it could even let us comprehend a rule. You should also comprehend the magic you received, as it will let you get a complete rule eventually. "

Hearing this, Tiana said with surprise, " If that's the case, then the magic we got should be a power of higher level. "

" That should be the case, and we will know more about it once we go to the next layer of this Roumbra Blood War dimension. Anyway, since we are done here, and the pathways are also opened, let's move onto the next--"

[ Everyone inside Ifrit Dandraid Castle will be transported out in twelve hours, and the castle will return to slumber. ]

[ Everyone has twelve hours in this castle of death, Be sure to survive if you want to go out with the rewards or become the nutrients and rewards of others after death. ]

Athan and Tiana didn't waste time and started moving towards a pathway.

...

At the place where Mike, Qerin, and Avelia were inside blood pools...

The blood pool where Mike and Qerin entered was almost dry, but their current state was nothing short of a nightmare. Only five minutes were left before their 30 minute time is up.

Qerin was still better as she regained her body slowly, and she was also winning the internal battle. But Mike...

Inside his blood pool, The only thing left from his whole body were few things.

His intact head, neck, and half of his chest where his heart was beating and half of his abdomen.

That was all he had while his other body was gone, but Mike was still alive.

He was surviving with the barest minimum requirement for one having primal energy.

With bloodshot eyes and half-consciousness, He was muttering and thinking only one thing.

" Survive...survive...survive..."

He had protected his most vital two things while internally fighting.

Just as the voice said something about luck. He was not so lucky to have chosen this blood pool.

Avelia, on the other hand, was in a similar situation as Qerin. Not lucky but not unlucky too. Though, She still had to survive 15 minutes in the blood pool.

Qerin's body had only one part left to recover, and that was the ankle of her left leg, but the five minutes were up before she could recover them.

After her hellish 30 minutes were over inside the blood pool, Her body started to shine with the same color of the blood pool liquid, which was nowhere to be seen now because the pool was empty.

Qerin's ankle was instantly healed after her body started to give off a strange shine and energy.

*groan...*

Qerin groaned in comfort as she felt warm and cozy inside her body.

The bright shining light finally stopped as Qerin saw something inside her Energy realm and was very surprised by the knowledge and comprehension she received.

" So the internal battle with those creatures who used those powers on us was to help us get this..."

Qerin murmured this, but she was more worried about Mike as she hurriedly left the pool and dashed towards Mike's pool.

She arrived there in a second, and when she finally saw the state of Mike, Her eyes overflowed with tears as she shouted, " MIKE!!! "

She jumped inside the pool as there was no more any kind of force stopping her from entering it. She was heartbroken when she saw the state of Mike.

*sobs*

" Wake up, Mike...WAKE UP..."

...

Mike didn't know what was happening as the only thing he could see was darkness, ' Did I survive? I have to survive...But where is this? Whatever this place is, It's far better than the nightmare which i....survive. I...survived that nightmare, right? '

He was confused and felt that he was being pulled by something, ' How am I being pulled? Wait...is this? My soul? '

" WAKE UP, MIKE. YOU CAN'T DIE "

' I am dead?...'