Noah's crimson gold blood welled up instantly around the band, and there was no resistance at all, no interception, none of his Provenance Body's layers doing anything whatsoever, and his blood ran hot down his finger and into the gray metal.
And the ring drank it.
It sucked the crimson gold in greedily, absorbing every drop that touched it, and only THEN, only after it had tasted his blood, did the remaining spikes fully recede and the band clasp itself around his finger.
And then it began to shine!
Gold erupted along the ring's surface, a terrifying gold, deep and old and heavier than any light Noah had ever generated. The impossible lines on its outer band lit up and began to pulse, the single unbroken surface running its endless circuit, light chasing itself around a shape that had no outside and no inside, faster and faster and faster!
The ring clasped tight on his finger and...
BOOM!
A blinding golden light detonated across the frozen spring!
