Seconds turned to minutes, and at the six-minute mark, the energy also reached its peak while Draven was pushing the limits of his body and holding on for dear life.
The toxic energy contaminated the entirety of his blood, and his muscles were beginning to melt under its corrosive force. Bones and tendons were breaking, and the only thing keeping Draven alive was his sheer will and ability to prevent essential organs from collapsing.
Draven kept pushing the corrosive mana out, cleaning his body of nearly 70% of the poisonous energy, and at the eleven-minute mark, he felt his control fade.
In an instant, his windpipe closed with a sickly crackle, his eyes bloomed red as blood vessels burst in his sclera, and in a moment of shock, he fell face first on the floor, blood leaking from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Draven felt his senses fade into darkness as his body convulsed, gaging on blood and choking on lungs full of air, but he smiled, knowing he was getting dragged into the astral state and his plan had worked.
'Draven, Draven, Old man, what is going on? Are you alright?' Nero roared, panic gripping his heart, as he saw his body fall face first on the ground, the hands not moving to stop the fall.
The coughing of blood and the rough, harsh sound of forced breathing sounded loud and clear to him, but seeing it stop, with his vision turning completely dark a moment later, Nero felt a wave of panic.
The panic only grew once he felt pain engulf his every nerve, his eyes drowned in the pitch dark and senses that he could only associate with his physical body.
Nero was not even able to open his mouth to scream in agony before his mind drifted into unconsciousness, and in a short moment, his mind got dragged into the astral state.
Nero regained his senses, finding himself standing amid an expanse of misty white fog that stretched for as far as his eyes could see. He quickly realized the distinct feeling of cold and weightlessness he felt when inside his mind's place.
"Draven, Old man, you there?"
"Did I Die? Though I feel the familiar feeling of being alive, then again, I do not know how being dead feels," Nero questioned, not feeling any extraordinary link with as he expected once he entered the astral state.
"I am surprisingly calm in the face of this strange situation," Nero thought, surprised by his own feelings. Even though the chances of his death were there, he did not feel much of anything.
He only had two thoughts occupying his mind: if he was dead, then what next? While not a devout practitioner, he believed in one true God and the life after death.
However, if he was in the astral state, then why was he not feeling the link that Draven talked about? With no answers to both of his questions, all he could do was wait patiently as he tried to explore the white fog.
"The pain I felt before everything turned dark was terrible, and I wonder how Draven had planned to deal with the damage even if everything worked out," Nero thought, feeling a chill in his spine as he relived the moment of torture.
Nero began to move in a random direction, moving his hand through the white fog only to feel nothing. As strange as it was not to feel an ounce of panic in the face of the unknown, he also felt staying calm was just natural to him.
"I think I just felt something," Nero stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide as he suddenly felt a new sensation.
"Anger, Blood, A Battlefield?" Nero said the words out loud, a dream-like memory, cloudy yet somewhat clear, flashing through his mind as he focused on the distinct link he felt with something unknown.
The link was like a part of his body, something he could just feel, and focusing on it allowed him to feel the power that flowed through it, a sensation that only grew clearer the more he focused on it.
Nero saw a massive battlefield, where the ground was a river of blood darted with mountains, and the sky was a blanket of crimson stretched above like the bastion below.
In the distance, yet seemingly at arm's length, there was a towering throne made from blood, gore, and skulls, with a distant voice whispering in his mind to climb the throne, become the king of crimson, and embrace the power before him.
Nero felt the power, overwhelming and untamed, primal and brutal, with screams of agony and roars of valor ringing in his mind, something that would be disturbing, but for some reason, it was comforting, like a lullaby, gently carrying his mind.
"WHAT THE HELL,"
"HAAHOOOOO, HAOOoooo, Hahoooo,"
Nero took deep breaths, shaking himself out from what felt like a creeping slumber. A smile stretched across his face, and his eyes were wide in surprise as he knew exactly what he had just experienced.
"I am not dead, at least not yet," Nero said, chuckling, his mind making contact with the link again and feeling the pressure before instantly breaking.
"I first thought it was a berserker system, but no, I think it would allow me to control blood and Rage?" Nero said, trying his best to analyze the nature of the system he had just made contact with.
"As for its grade, I would like to believe it is a Primordial grade, but then again, it could be a really strong or really weak King grade system," Nero murmured, his words fading into the calm silence.
Nero did not have to wait long before he felt another link, followed by two more, which, in the blink of an eye, turned to ten. He only slowed down once the number reached seventeen.
"So Many," Nero whispered, feeling his throat suddenly dry, making him gulp down his imaginary saliva.
Nero could insistingly feel which link was stronger, and compared to the first link, there were three, maybe four, that were on the same intensity, and knowing his time in this place was short, he decided to focus only on those strong links.
Nero focused on the first of the four, instantly feeling its power, and was dragged into a dream-like state once more, finding himself on a battlefield again.
This time, he stood in the sky, watching a being of blood swing massive battleaxes, each swing distorting the very fabric of space, turning all those in their path to gory mist.
'Blood, Rage, Vibration,' Nero thought of the aspects of reality that came to his mind as he cut his link off.
Nero connected with the second link, finding himself in the sky once more. A massive metropolis teamed with life below him, rich with life and color at the moment, but it began to be drowned in darkness a moment later.
People began to drop dead, their eyes drying out as if life was sapped away, but they did not stay on the ground for long, as moments later, dark flowers and vines began to grow from within their bodies, making them stand up and slaughter their fellow citizens.
'Death, Life, Growth, Disease'
Nero was about to check on the third one when he felt another link, one that was far stronger than the rest. He could feel the power that flowed through it very clearly without even needing to focus on it.
He could feel the eerie darkness seeping through the connection, a coldness gnawed at his every nerve, the stench of decay burnt in his nose, and the grinding of bones echoed faintly in his mind.
Nero focused on it and instantly found himself standing at the edge of a tall cliff looking over a massive army of skeletal undead, their eyes glowing with an eerie dark luster, their ranks containing all forms of creature and abominations of white bones.
The undead army marched towards an Empire of Gold, its massive walls shining beneath the sun, the towering spires of its palaces reaching for the sky, while an army of equal size as the undead stood to defend their empire.
The view suddenly shifted, and Nero found himself suspended in the sky, looking over tens of undead armies battling against various Races throughout various continents.
Their number never dwindled as those they killed joined their ranks, making their victory all but guaranteed.
"Aspect My Gifts," The voice commanded, low and hollow, as though spoken from the depths of the grave.
It was ancient, devoid of warmth, and felt like distant thunder, not loud but immense. The words were deliberate, each syllable heavy as stone, pressing down with the weight of finality.
'Is this a Primordial Grade System?' Nero questioned, breaking free from the illusion, feeling overwhelmed by what he saw as he tried to think what powers the system held.
'Death, Summoning, Bone, Authority'
'This system is truly strong, but it also does not give me any devouring abilities,' Nero thought, feeling anxious as the sudden realization hit him that he had not even been contacted by the system he came for.