Death... and me

The guy didn't know that Roan's group was there, so he continued with his own test. He gathered his own Soul Power and sent it into the altar. Following that, the altar lit up with a faint blue light, connecting with the guy's Soul Power Source.

After some time, one of the seven doors at the back began to open as it glowed with the same blue light. However, Rean and Roan immediately noticed that the guy didn't seem to be that pleased with the door given to him. Unfortunately, they couldn't hear what the guy was saying as he entered that door.

Once the shadows had engulfed the guy's silhouette, the door behind him began to close, making it seem like nothing had happened. Rean and Roan didn't try to follow the guy since they didn't know what the doors there meant.

'Frandin, do you know what those doors are about?'

Frandin shook his head as he said.

'Father didn't talk to me about it. First of all, I can't guarantee that the Rank Two Bloodline Trials had them or not.'

Roan had to admit that Frandin was right.

Rean then shook his head and put those questions at the back of his head.

'Forget about it. From the looks of it, this Bloodline Trial will keep working as long as that guy is attempting it. However, we don't know how long he'll take there, so let's hurry up.'

Frandin and Roan nodded in response as they quickly approached the altar. Sure enough, Rean and Roan connected to the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and allowed everyone else to come out. The good thing was that there wasn't a need to explain anything to anyone. Sister Orb made sure to tell them what was happening in the outside world during that time.

Frandin, already used to the scene, also ignored everyone before asking Rean and Roan.

"Should I touch the altar first?"

That was the problem. Even if a door opened for Frandin, would it open for the rest of them? Can they even enter the same way? They only had one way to find that out.

"Go ahead. We'll try to follow you into the door that opens after that."

"Well, that's considering Frandin has enough Soul Power to be accepted by it. We still don't know if the Soul Power that the Bloodline Trials Office asks for is necessary here."

Frandin then took a deep breath before touching the altar. Just like the last Zasfin, he sent his Soul Power inside before the altar connected to his Soul Power Source. The same faint blue light came out of the Altar a few moments later as another door began to open behind it. This time, it was a different one.

"Seems like it's open. Let's try to enter it."

Frandin then moved together with Rean's group. Just to be sure, he went ahead since he was the one who opened it. He passed through the door without any issues. However, just as Rean and Roan were about to go through, some kind of invisible barrier materialized in front of them.

*Thud! Thud!*

Rean and Roan bounced back together with the others. Sure enough, only those who opened the doors could pass through them.

"Sigh... Well, it's not like we didn't think about this possibility."

"Does it mean that only Frandin will be able to try the test?"

"I don't know. We decided to follow Frandin since he was the only one who could manifest Soul Power. We do have Soul Power, but our points of Soul Power are below 20. Without it being at 20 points or higher, we can't manifest it."

"We can only hope that the altar will activate even without manifesting Soul Power."

Frandin then looked at Rean and Roan before asking.

"What should I do then? Should I go forward?"

Rean and Roan pondered if they should let him go or not. But then again, Frandin was behind the barrier, so they couldn't capture him either way. On the other hand, Roan was the only one who knew how to make the antidote for Frandin's poison, so they can demand him to come back.

Suddenly, the door began to close again. If they wanted Frandin to come out, it had to be soon.

As Roan pondered about it a little more, Rean lightly smiled before grabbing a pill bottle that contained a different pill from the ones Frandin had been using so far. Not long after that, he threw it at Frandin.

Roan glanced at him for a moment but didn't say anything. He more or less expected Rean to do that.

Frandin, of course, was taken aback by that.

"Go ahead and see what you can do. Whether you use this chance to escape, attempt to capture us by telling the others, or whatever other idea you have in mind, it's up to you. By the way, this is the final antidote. Once you take it, the poison in your body will be completely healed."

Frandin stopped breathing for a second when he heard that before quickly grabbing the bottle. Was that the truth? Or was it a lie? He didn't know. However, he was certain that only a single pill wouldn't be enough to keep his poison at bay for long. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ask because the door closed in front of him. From now on, he was on his own.

Back at Rean's group, Qia looked at Rean and asked.

"Are you sure about that?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

"Even if I wasn't, it's not like we could use him for much longer. There is a limit as to what a Rank Two Bloodline Mark owner can do for us. We might as well capture someone with a lot more authority next time."

Malaka found it strange as she asked in response.

"What if he decides to spread word of us?"

Agis was the one who answered that question.

"It doesn't matter. The way humans have been treated so far will guarantee that no one will care too much about it. It's just a few humans. Why should they care? If anything, Frandin might be ostracized since he helped us up to this moment. In the end, it's just as Rean mentioned, we don't have much use for him the way he is at the moment anymore."

Roan nodded as he agreed with Agis. That was the reason Roan didn't say anything. The risks were very low. In a certain way, allowing Frandin to try a Rank Five Bloodline Trial seemed to be payment for all the help he had provided so far.

"Forget about it. Let's go to the altar and see what happens. If it doesn't open a door for us, then we might as well leave this place. Or perhaps we can also wait here until Frandin comes out to see how he fared."

They could use the Soul Gem Circuitry Teleport Formation to leave, so leaving unscathed wasn't much of a concern to them.

"If it doesn't work, we can also try and use the Circuitry Teleport Formation to see if we can teleport directly inside of one of those paths."

Everyone nodded after hearing that.

However, as they discussed these topics, no one noticed a certain black and white bird moving around on its own.

*Chick.*

It was then that Kentucky paid attention to the altar. Slowly but surely, the Minokawa made its way there before looking at the altar from up close.

At that moment, Rean's group noticed Kentucky's behavior from the other side.

"What's he doing?"

"Who cares? Let's try and use the altar."

However, just as they began to make their way over, Kentucky's eyes lit up before his head moved in a flash!

*Vup,vup, vup!*

*Peck, peck, peck!*

*Crunch, crunch, crunch...*

Kentucky was now eating the altar right in front of everyone. Not only that, but he destroyed one-third of the altar on the first try.

"Ahh! Stop that chicken!"

"No!"

"Stop, Kentucky!"

However, before they could get close to Kentucky, he swallowed the altar and attacked once more.

*Vup,vup, vup, vup, vup, vup!*

*Peck, peck, peck, peck, peck, peck!*

*Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch!*

This time, he noticed that Rean's group wanted to stop him, so he almost ate the entire altar the second time he pecked at it.

*Chick! Chick!*

Kentucky then swallowed the rest of it with a satisfied expression. Well, he was the only one who looked happy at the moment. Rean and the others had a dark expression, especially Roan.

"Perhaps... we could have fried chicken for dinner today."

Kentucky felt a chill on his back before he flashed away and hid behind a boulder. He was obviously afraid of Roan's killing intent. It wasn't a fake one, but the real deal.

*Ch-c-c-c-hick...*

Rean sighed in the end.

"Whatever. If Kentucky ate the altar, it means at least some of it was made of Heaven-Level materials. Now that it's gone, we can't do anything about it. We can try another Bloodline Trial some other time."

Roan's expression was still dark, but he could only nod in the end. Unfortunately, fried chickens couldn't fly, so it would be quite a loss if he cooked Kentucky today.

Rean's group then looked at where the altar was located and could see some kind of energy escaping from it. Well, since they've been with Frandin for quite some time, they knew what it was.

"There's a bit of Soul Power coming out of it."

"There's still the base of the altar left. Perhaps it can still recognize us."

Rean nodded and decided to touch it. However, even before he moved his hands, he heard a sound coming from behind the altar.

*Rumble...*

When they all looked over, they noticed that one of the doors into the trials began to open. Soon after, a second one opened as well. Then, a third, a fourth, fifth...

By the end, almost all doors had opened. Only two were closed, the doors used by Frandin and the other guy.

"Uh... Kentucky did a good job... I guess?"

*Chick!*