These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies ... done!
Dependency resolution took 1.57 s (backtrack: 0/20).

[ebuild  N     ] dev-libs/libpcre-8.45-r4:3::gentoo  USE="bzip2 cxx jit pcre16 readline (unicode) zlib -libedit -pcre32 -static-libs -valgrind" 1542 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] app-arch/hardlink-0.3.2::gentoo  16 KiB
[blocks B      ] >=sys-apps/util-linux-2.34[hardlink] (">=sys-apps/util-linux-2.34[hardlink]" is soft blocking app-arch/hardlink-0.3.2)
[blocks B      ] app-arch/hardlink ("app-arch/hardlink" is soft blocking sys-apps/util-linux-2.41.3)

Total: 2 packages (2 new), Size of downloads: 1557 KiB
Conflict: 2 blocks (2 unsatisfied)

 * Error: The above package list contains packages which cannot be
 * installed at the same time on the same system.

  (sys-apps/util-linux-2.41.3:0/0::gentoo, installed) pulled in by
    sys-apps/util-linux required by (app-text/xmlto-0.0.28-r11:0/0::gentoo, installed) USE="-latex -text"
    sys-apps/util-linux:0/0= required by (dev-lang/python-3.14.3:3.14/3.14::gentoo, installed) USE="ensurepip gdbm ncurses pgo readline sqlite ssl -bluetooth -debug -examples (-jit) -libedit -tail-call-interp -test -tk -valgrind -verify-sig" LLVM_SLOT="19"
    >=sys-apps/util-linux-2.24.1-r3[abi_x86_32(-)?,abi_x86_64(-)?,abi_x86_x32(-)?,abi_mips_n32(-)?,abi_mips_n64(-)?,abi_mips_o32(-)?,abi_s390_32(-)?,abi_s390_64(-)?] (>=sys-apps/util-linux-2.24.1-r3[abi_x86_64(-)]) required by (x11-libs/libSM-1.2.6:0/0::gentoo, installed) USE="uuid -doc"
    sys-apps/util-linux:0/0= required by (dev-lang/python-3.13.12:3.13/3.13::gentoo, installed) USE="ensurepip gdbm ncurses pgo readline sqlite ssl -bluetooth -debug -examples (-jit) -libedit -test -tk -valgrind -verify-sig" LLVM_SLOT="18"
    sys-apps/util-linux required by @system 
    sys-apps/util-linux required by (sys-fs/e2fsprogs-1.47.4:0/0::gentoo, installed) USE="nls tools -archive -cron -fuse -static-libs -test -verify-sig"
    >=sys-apps/util-linux-2.23[abi_x86_64(-)] required by (dev-libs/glib-2.84.4-r2:2/2::gentoo, installed) USE="dbus elf mime xattr -debug -doc -introspection (-selinux) -static-libs -sysprof -systemtap -test -utils"
    >=sys-apps/util-linux-2.30:0/0= required by (sys-apps/systemd-utils-259.4:0/0::gentoo, installed) USE="acl kmod (split-usr) tmpfiles udev -boot -kernel-install -secureboot (-selinux) -sysusers -test -ukify" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_13 -python3_11 -python3_12 -python3_14"
    sys-apps/util-linux required by (app-text/build-docbook-catalog-2.4:0/0::gentoo, installed) USE=""
    sys-apps/util-linux required by (sys-apps/portage-9999:0/0::gentoo, installed) USE="(ipc) native-extensions rsync-verify xattr -apidoc -build -doc -gentoo-dev (-selinux) -test" PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_13 -python3_12 -python3_14"
    sys-apps/util-linux[abi_x86_32(-)?,abi_x86_64(-)?,abi_x86_x32(-)?,abi_mips_n32(-)?,abi_mips_n64(-)?,abi_mips_o32(-)?,abi_s390_32(-)?,abi_s390_64(-)?] (sys-apps/util-linux[abi_x86_64(-)]) required by (media-libs/fontconfig-2.17.1:1.0/1.0::gentoo, installed) USE="nls -doc -test"

  (app-arch/hardlink-0.3.2:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) pulled in by
    =app-arch/hardlink-0.3.2


For more information about Blocked Packages, please refer to the following
section of the Gentoo Linux x86 Handbook (architecture is irrelevant):

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:X86/Working/Portage#Blocked_packages