As the magic circulated inside her, she could feel herself slowing down. The cold started to creep up on her, radiating from her veins. Slowly, her body chilled down to the bones. The cold seemed to seep into her very being. Nine's breathing remained steady as she fought off the pain that the biting cold was causing her. It felt like a million tiny ants were biting into her body at once.
The pain was immense, but Nine bore it without a change in her expression. A lesser person would have shouted and cried as the pain exceeded their pain tolerance. Nine breathed in and out steadily as she coped with the unfamiliar blinding pain. She relaxed her body, not allowing a single muscle to tense up.
Slowly but steadily, she adjusted her mental state as the pain accompanied her in every step. She didn't know how long passed as the cold slowly faded to become a burning hot pain. It was akin to a person setting their skin on fire after being doused in petroleum.
Nine took this chance to further solidify her mental state, allowing her heart to become clear and flawless as glass. As her mental state transformed, she suddenly felt like the pain that had constantly been chasing her and luring her into unconsciousness was a bit more bearable now.
Nine kept her magic circulation constant, causing the new blood to multiply itself drop by drop. Her body shuddered as the blood left her heart, moving like an individual identity. It rushed throughout her body, devouring the unworthy blood flowing within her veins.
As the time passed, she could gradually feel her body becoming stronger on its own. Her bones hardened, her skin toughened. If she had to estimate it, she could probably take a blow from a Sixth Tier Mage head on and escape relatively unscathed.
The time passing seemed slow but fast at the same time. As her body was undergoing a transformation, she couldn't measure the amount of time that had passed. It simultaneously felt like years had passed, but it could also have been mere minutes. The pain was playing with her senses, but she bore with it patiently. She wouldn't lose her mind from just this.
The moment one lost themselves to the darkness, they would become a Blood Thrall and a slave to Vampires. A Blood Thrall didn't have a specific master. Any random Vampire could control it, should they want to, and Nine absolutely couldn't accept that fact. It was humiliating – degrading.
Nine could feel how her magic theories were rapidly being formed under the stress and pain, solidifying her foundations, which had been slightly shaky due to her advancing so quickly. She felt delighted before she calmed herself down, unwilling to allow herself the slightest respite lest it disrupt her mental state.
A rebirth – a complete transformation. Being bathed in the flames and icy cold waters, the person who emerged victorious would have the last laugh. Those who succumbed would die. If not physically, then mentally.
The golden blood devoured each drop of blood, replacing each blood with a split of itself. The superior blood rushed through her body like every second was its last, changing her genes permanently.
Everything deemed inferior was eliminated without any mercy. As the pain kicked up a notch, Nine struggled like a boat on rough seas, trying not to capsize.
The pain persistently crept up on her, increasing with each moment that passed. Just when she felt like she could no longer hold on to her sanity, the pain abruptly stopped.
The amount of willpower it took to stop her body from slumping onto the ground was far too much than what she was comfortable with. Panting heavily, Nine kept her body upright and in the same position as all her muscles suddenly felt the release of tension. Even though she hadn't been tensing up, her muscles had still been shuddering from the pain.
It was almost a miracle she hadn't passed out and lost herself. She could see why only one in ten thousand people passed this transformation. She didn't know what difference there was in purifying the blood and not, but it had been extraordinarily painful. It felt like her body was breaking down on the inside while something built it back up at the same moment it was disintegrating.
She continued circulating her magic within her, not letting up for a moment. She could feel that the transformation wasn't over yet, so she didn't dare to slack off now. She guarded herself carefully, wary of a sudden surge of pain that would cause her to black out at the last moment.
Sure enough, a sudden blinding pain attacked her heart as what felt like every single drop in her body rushed towards her heart. The pain was almost unbearable. She felt a scream try to break out of her mouth before she shoved it deep down. Even though she had been prepared for it, it was still pain unlike anything she'd ever felt before.
The moment her heart completely renewed itself, the pain left her as abruptly as it started. This time, she couldn't stop herself from slumping to the ground as the sweet relief of the absence of pain made her feel like the deep breaths she took was gratifyingly sweet.
As her magic traced over her body that was so familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time, she felt the slightest sense of relief that it seemed to be over. It felt like she had been in that state for years, decades. Her sense of time was completely warped.
Nine opened her eyes at this moment, looking at her changed hands. Her skin looked supple and smooth, losing whatever callouses she had developed over training. If her skin had been pale previously, it now looked milky white. When she looked hard enough, she could see the pores on her skin were exceptionally small. From afar, it looked like she didn't have pores at all.
Nine's brows furrowed. Even though she felt like her body had been changed, it also didn't feel complete –
It was at this moment when the pain caught her off-guard. Her head felt like someone had taken a hammer and smashed her brain to mush before running over it with a truck, followed by a tank, then grinded it up in a blender to make sure there was no more consciousness remaining.
Nine almost felt like laughing at herself – it was negligence that did her in. Of course, the last part that transformed was the brain! To think she had guarded against the pain in the heart without remembering that she hadn't felt any golden blood enter her head.
Her vision wavered as black spots appeared in front of her. The last thing she saw was Black's sleeping face as her vision disappeared on her.