End of purification

Amidst the burning sensation, Frederick felt that his heart was about to stop beating at any moment. The thick liquid in his blood vessels was preventing it from pumping, and its frantic and irregular beatings became weaker and weaker as the seconds went by.

Slowly but surely, he felt the blood in his veins began to freeze as the feeling of suffocation worsened. His heart was beating too slowly, and he knew it would stop totally soon.

Despite the pain, Frederick forced himself to think of a solution.

'I need to help evacuate this paste out of my body faster... Otherwise, I won't make it at this rate.'

 Sensing the encroaching fog in his mind, Frederick realized that without intervention, he would die very soon.

Without much choice, he used all his willpower and gathered all his calculative power before brutally forcing his blood to circulate faster using Sanguine Infusion. It was the only solution he could think of and was extremely risky.

At the same time, he knew that he had to be careful. His blood vessels seemed to have weakened to the point where they could explode if he used Sanguine Infusion at full strength. So, he needed to control the power of his authority even if his body was urging him to give up.

The feeling of having all your blood vessels burn due to the friction of the thick, dark liquid moving through it at high speed was unbearable. The only good thing is that it didn't last long, as the impure blood quickly flowed out of Frederick's body.

But now there was another issue... He was now bleeding to death.

Witnessing the sudden rush of impurities gushing out from Frederick's body at an alarming rate initially left Eris dumbfounded. However, she quickly regained her composure. With a swift move of her palm, she activated her second authority- Lesser rarity, Biomancer's support.

Contrary to conventional healing in games, this authority's true ability was to accelerate the target's natural recovery process. So, by using this power on someone, they will regenerate faster. Although it required way less calculative power, it was at the price of being more stressful for the target's body.

Despite being a lesser rarity, this authority's power was highly desired. Perhaps even more so than Thomas' lie detection ability at the present moment. After all, given the imminent main story, authority oriented towards combat or survival held a great value. 

The purple light in the palm of the pale woman slowly dimmed, giving way to a billowing green gas. As the gas spread throughout Frederick's body, he suddenly felt that his bones increased the production of blood cells and marrow to replace the damaged ones. 

At last, the pain gradually faded as the freshly created blood seemed to chase away all impurities from the body.

His heart, previously struggling to work correctly due to the thickness of the black liquid, was now able to beat more strongly than before. It was as if a huge burden had been lifted from Frederick's body. 

As the dark blood oozing from all his orifices began to decrease, Frederick could freely breathe once again.

Eris kept a concentrated gaze as she controlled the rate of Frederick's recovery. She needed to be careful and not heal him too much. Or else, it could kill Frederick since his body did not have enough energy reserves to bear the full strength of her authority.

Moreover, she needed to control all wounds and prevent them from closing, as all impurities had yet to evacuate from Frederick's blood system. She cannot afford to leave any impurities. If such a thing happened, it would be lethal.

Gradually, as the impurities were expelled from Frederick's body, his organs began to regain some semblance of functionality. But despite the improvement, his entire body remained in a pitiful state and was barely functioning correctly.

He was literally transitioning from a state of "Soon to be dead" to a state of "almost dead."

However, this miraculous regeneration came at the price of the fat that remained in Frederick's body, leaving him overly skinny. At this point, Frederick's body looked horrible. Covered in a mud-like substance, he looked remarkably like one of those bodies preserved in a tub. Parts of his skin were even showing signs of necrosis.

When the last impurities finally exited Frederick's body, an overwhelming exhaustion engulfed him. He found himself too drained to even muster the energy to move.

Eris wiped the sweat from her forehead as the green smoke dissipated, then announced in an almost euphoric voice, "It's over! Y-You survived! You did it!" 

Without wasting time, she quickly grabbed a large bottle filled with a transparent liquid and hurriedly poured it into Frederick's mouth.

"Quick! Drink it! Your body should stabilize after taking this!" She said, putting the bottle against his mouth and carefully letting the liquid flow slowly between his dry and chapped lips.

When the liquid passed through his mouth and throat, a strong sour taste immediately hit his tongue. It was bitter and slightly nauseous, but it was still way better than the dark paste, which he almost choked on.

Frederick felt a cooling and refreshing sensation as the liquid entered his body. A tingling feeling spread to every corner of his body, 

"It is not an absolute cure, but it will prevent your body from ...falling apart for now," she explained with a bright smile as she stared at him.

Her mask hid most of her face, but she seemed incredibly happy. Her eyes were full of joy, and her voice reflected the relief. Her breath was erratic, her palms were sweaty, and she looked like she would faint at any moment, but she was obviously excited. If she was being honest with herself ... She did not expect him to survive.

Eris had seen people cry, scream, or plead for her to ... end their excruciating torture. And those were only the ones who could speak. Of course, she couldn't, as it would mean death.

After so many times, she was used to seeing death. But still, every time she failed, she would often blame herself. It was to the point where she would regularly have nightmares of it, seeing all of those people who were tortured by her hands. 

But simultaneously, she couldn't stop as she learned the hard way how ruthless reality was. She had to find a way to get experience points and become stronger too. That was when Markus had an idea of using her authority cleverly: the purification process.

Although it was not the primary usage of her primary authority, this process wouldn't require her to "murder." 

By only accepting those who wish to undergo the process, she wouldn't have forced anyone. Those who undergo will know the risks, and if they died, then she couldn't really say that it was her fault and would be able to obtain their experience points.

 Despite this, she often hoped never to receive any experience points...

That was why the current situation was a miracle in her eyes. If some of them survived, it means that she was not lying and just sending candidates to their doom, right?

After several tense minutes, Frederick's condition began to stabilize. Though still weakened, he wouldn't die.

"How are you feeling- Ah, I forgot that you can't hear or see for now," Eris asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Indeed, Frederick's senses of vision and hearing remained absent. The purification process had extended to his ears and eyes, rendering it normal for him to be unable to see or hear.

"Don't worry; it will recover soon. Give it a few days, and you will be able to see and hear again—Oh wait, you still can't hear me. Uh ... Sorry, I am just excited," she said, scratching her head awkwardly.

Observing Frederick's lack of response after pocking him multiple times, Eris quickly discerned that he had drifted into slumber.