Seeing Kurumi's reaction, Souta sighed and turned his attention back to the knife.
He positioned the blade over his left index finger.
After mustering his courage for a full minute—
A sharp sting ran through his finger.
A tiny bead of blood formed, then dripped onto the floor.
Something strange happened.
The blood... suddenly reversed its motion.
The droplet lifted off the ground,
Flew back into his wound—
And his skin sealed itself instantly.
Souta blinked in amazement.
"Looks like I'm officially an immortal."
Kurumi stared blankly at him, her eye twitching slightly.
Souta tilted his head.
Kurumi's expression darkened slightly.
"You made such a big deal about testing your immortality... I thought you were going to cut off your whole hand!"
Souta gave her a look.
"The Elixir doesn't block pain, you know? Why the hell would I go that far!?"
"I'm not a masochist!"
Kurumi sighed and muttered to herself.
"Well, at least that's reassuring... If you had cut off your hand without hesitation, I might've started questioning if you were actually human."
Satisfied with his small-scale experiment, Souta decided to conduct further tests.
He tried pulling out a few strands of hair.
The hair instantly regrew.
He clipped his nails—
The cut-off parts reformed immediately.
Everything functioned exactly as the lore described.
His entire body had become a self-correcting state.
It rejected any changes and reverted to its original form.
"Damn. This means I can eat as much as I want and never gain weight!"
Kurumi, meanwhile, just watched silently.
And half exasperated.
Can't Get Fat Even If I Try!
As the experiments continued, Souta suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over him.
Thinking back, he was really lucky that after Kurumi pulled him out of the ocean, she used the Fourth Bullet to restore him.
After all, if he had been soaked in freezing seawater for too long, it would've been impossible for him not to catch a cold.
And if he had drunk the Elixir of Immortality while sick...
Wouldn't he have stayed sick forever?
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying...
"So, it looks like you really won't get hurt or die anymore, huh?"
Kurumi watched as Souta tested himself over and over again, letting out an earnest sigh of amazement.
The world of anime was truly insane—it could grant a normal person immortality without any cost.
"No, I think I can still die."
Souta immediately refuted her conclusion.
Kurumi tilted her head curiously, clearly not understanding.
"After thinking about it, I realized my body's regeneration is kind of similar to Angel Queen Kaisa's 'Divine Body' from King of Gods."
"Of course, it's only similar in terms of reconstruction—I'm nowhere near that level."
"King of Gods? Angel Queen? Divine Body?"
Kurumi was confused by the unfamiliar names, tilting her head cutely.
Seeing this, Souta immediately pulled out his laptop and searched for Angel Queen Kaisa.
He then pointed at the character's wiki page.
"Kaisa is a character from this series. She has something called the Divine Body."
"One of its abilities allows her molecular structure to automatically reposition and reconstruct itself."
"So even if she gets chopped into seventeen pieces—or even ground into dust—she can still fully restore herself."
After hearing this, Kurumi blinked in amazement.
"That's... an incredible ability."
"Yeah, it is. But it's not true immortality."
"For example, in my case, only my cells are 'conscious' and capable of automatically reforming."
"But if someone destroyed every single cell in my body, wouldn't I still die?"
"'Immortality is only relative."
If someone obliterated him on a cellular level, he would still cease to exist.
A nuclear explosion, for instance, could annihilate his entire molecular structure—killing him instantly.
"Alright, let's wrap up this topic."
Souta turned to Kurumi and pointed at himself.
"Try absorbing my time."
"Theoretically, since my body is now permanently 'fixed' in time, it doesn't matter if a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand years pass—I'll always stay ."
"I should have infinite time to give."
Absorbing time from others was not a pleasant experience.
Souta had only confirmed his regeneration, not whether he was immune to aging.
If something went wrong, she had no way to reverse it!
Seeing her hesitation, Souta reassured her.
"Relax, I'll be fine... probably."
"Okay, I'm not completely sure."
Souta thought for a moment, then made a reasonable suggestion.
"Start by absorbing two years from me."
"If my body shows any changes, stop immediately."
"If there's no change, we'll slowly increase the amount—five years, ten years, twenty years... That way, we minimize the risk."
Kurumi's eyes lit up.
"That's actually a great idea. Let's do that."
After mentally preparing themselves, they began the time absorption experiment.
Souta had no mental pressure at all.
After all, he fully believed in the Elixir's power, and losing time didn't sound like something he'd even be able to feel.
She was under immense pressure.
What Souta didn't know was that during the long moment of silence, Kurumi had been lost in memories.
She had recalled their first meeting—the night when she had absorbed time from those thugs who tried to assault her.
The twisted, grotesque sight of their dying bodies...
Their limbs convulsing, their veins bulging and bursting through their translucent skin...
Beneath that thin, stretched flesh, their organs and bones had liquefied into a sludgy mess.
The fragile skin ruptured, exploding into torrents of blood.
Deep crimson liquid splattered across the ground, instantly turning into blackened crusts.
At the same time, black-red mist seeped into the floor—absorbed into the abyss.
She had done this countless times.
Yet, no matter how often she witnessed it, she always felt a deep disgust.
Always turned into hatred—
Hatred toward herself as a Spirit.
Hatred toward the First Spirit.
When would she finally wash away her sins?
When would she finally erase this madness?
Kurumi took a deep breath.
Looking at Souta, who was willingly offering up his time for her, she felt an indescribable warmth in her chest.
Maybe this time, she could finally achieve her goal.
Because if she failed again—
Then even if her true purpose was to save people, she wasn't sure she could handle carrying more blood on her hands.