Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

”I wanted to avoid using it because of several reasons but...this damned Monster doesn’t seem to die otherwise.” Atlas spoke as his figure became fully visible through the fading smoke and dust. He had already concealed himself for most of the battle, but there was no longer any reason to remain hidden after deciding to use the one attack he had been trying to avoid revealing. His right hand, Reiden, glowed as his expression became more focused, while the familiar [+] shape began forming around the weapon.

He moved Reiden vertically first and then horizontally in the same instant, completing the Active Vector. The moment it formed, the Monster reacted. For the first time since it had appeared, its massive eyes shifted directly toward Atlas as if it had finally sensed that the person standing below it was different from everyone else who had attacked it until now. Without wasting another second, the Monster attacked with its flesh-made hand, Spirit Energy gathering throughout its body and increasing both the speed and strength behind the movement.

The attack was much faster than before, but Atlas didn’t retreat. In fact, he couldn’t retreat because he needed to remain in position to properly direct the Active Vector toward the Monster. A grin appeared on his face as he looked at the incoming hand.

”I have had enough of this damned bastard!”

Without hesitation, Atlas released the Active Vector with an instant push, putting everything he currently had into that single attack. The massive hand moved toward him from one side while the [+] sign moved toward it from the opposite direction, and as the Active Vector approached the Monster, it continued expanding. What had started at around the size of Atlas’s hand was already becoming large enough to cover a considerable portion of the Boss.

The Active Vector wasn’t a normal Spirit attack to begin with. A huge amount of Null had been poured into it, and that huge amount was Atlas’s entire reserve. He had completely emptied his Null into this one attack, leaving nothing behind for later. Because of that, the space around the Active Vector distorted violently along its path, but Atlas no longer cared about concealing the effect. His only objective was to kill the Monster before it could continue attacking.

And if someone looked carefully at the Active Vector, it would be clear that Atlas wasn’t targeting only the incoming hand. He was targeting the entire Monster. The [+] sign continued expanding while moving forward, spreading the Null inside it across as much of the Boss’s body as possible so that it wouldn’t stop after destroying only one section.

Everything happened within the same instant.

The Monster’s hand finally reached the Active Vector, and the [+] sign reached it at almost the exact same moment.

Then both struck.

There was no explosion from the collision. The moment the massive hand came into contact with the [+] sign, the part of its flesh that touched the Active Vector simply disappeared. It wasn’t torn apart, burned or broken. The Null inside the attack interfered with it and erased it from existence, while the rest of the Active Vector continued forward without stopping.

The hand disappeared first, followed by the wrist and the arm behind it. The Monster seemed to understand what was happening only after its limbs had already started disappearing, and its massive eyes remained fixed on Atlas as it tried to move away. It even brought its stone-made hand forward in an attempt to block the attack, but the distance was already too small. The expanding [+] sign continued moving across its body, and everything it touched was erased before it could react properly.

Its shoulder disappeared next, followed by the upper part of its chest. The dark flesh didn’t leave behind blood as it vanished, and even the Spirit Energy circulating through its body disappeared along with it. The regeneration that had repaired its skull earlier didn’t activate this time because the body wasn’t simply being injured. The damaged sections were being erased completely, leaving nothing there for the Monster to regenerate.

The Monster’s eyes widened as it looked at Atlas, seemingly trying to understand how its prey had suddenly gained an attack capable of doing this. Its massive body, which had given it the ability to withstand the attacks of several powerful individuals, had now become a weakness because Atlas was targeting everything at once instead of trying to destroy it piece by piece.

Atlas’s entire body remained tense as the Active Vector continued moving forward.

’All of it...’

His thoughts remained focused on the Null being consumed.

’I’m using all of it.’

There was no reserve left inside him anymore. He had already decided that saving Null for later was meaningless because the Boss had survived their strongest combined attack and regenerated the damage almost immediately. If Atlas didn’t use everything now, there was no guarantee he would get another chance. The situation had already become one where he either killed the Monster or eventually died trying, and Atlas had no intention of dying before completing the objectives he still carried inside him.

The [+] sign continued expanding and had already covered more than half of the Boss’s body. Its other arm vanished, followed by the lower part of its torso, while the Roots wrapped around its legs became useless because the body they had been holding was also disappearing. Even the dense Spirit Energy that had filled the chamber began decreasing as the source itself was erased.

For the first time since the Boss appeared, its body was becoming smaller.

Not because it was shrinking.

Because it was disappearing.

Atlas’s eyes narrowed when he noticed something inside the remaining part of the Monster. Deep within its body, where layers of flesh and Spirit had previously hidden everything inside, there was a small object that his earlier attacks had never exposed. It didn’t resemble an ordinary Ruin Core, and even as everything around it disappeared, the object remained untouched for a brief moment.

’What is that?’ Atlas only had enough time to think that before the remaining flesh around it disappeared.

The Monster’s head was the last major part left. Its massive eyes remained fixed on Atlas while the [+] sign continued moving toward it, but there was no longer enough of the body remaining for it to escape. The Active Vector reached the skull and erased the final portion of its head.

At almost the same moment, the strange object dropped from the space where the Monster’s core had been.

It struck the ground below with a small metallic sound.

Atlas noticed it, but he didn’t have enough strength left to investigate what it actually was.

The last part of the Monster disappeared.

There was no body remaining, no blood and no flesh, while even the Spirit Energy surrounding it had vanished with the rest. The entire Boss had been erased, and the Active Vector finally disappeared after completing its purpose.

The chamber became quiet.

Atlas remained standing for a few seconds while staring at the empty space where the Monster had been. His right hand slowly lowered together with Reiden as the remaining strength in his body started disappearing.

’It’s dead...’

That was the only thought he could manage.

He had used every bit of Null he possessed and forced all of it through a single Active Vector. He had expected the attack to consume most of his reserve, but not that it would leave him with absolutely nothing afterward. His vision started becoming blurry as his body grew heavier, and Atlas finally looked around the chamber one last time.

The Roots were still spread across the area, while several members of Asfalon had already collapsed after the earlier attacks. His gaze eventually landed on Himalton, who was lying several meters away with serious injuries covering his body. His clothes were damaged and blood had spread across the ground around him, but he was still breathing despite being unconscious.

Atlas then shifted his gaze toward Alberion.

He was alive as well, though he had also lost consciousness and was lying against the ground without moving.

’At least they’re alive.’

Atlas didn’t know whether that would remain true after he lost consciousness himself, but there was nothing else he could do. He had already used everything necessary to kill the Boss, and his own body had now reached its limit.

His knees weakened.

Atlas tried to remain standing for another second, but the strength simply wasn’t there anymore. His body fell to the ground, and although the impact wasn’t enough to cause any major additional injury, he still couldn’t move afterward. His breathing became slower while his consciousness continued fading, and even his perception gradually disappeared.

His eyes remained open for a few more moments.

The last thing he saw was the strange object that had dropped from the Monster’s body. It was still lying on the ground several meters away from him.

Then his eyes finally closed.

Atlas’s body became completely still.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

The chamber remained quiet except for the faint breathing of the injured members and the occasional movement of the Roots spread across the area. No one was in a condition to notice what was happening around Atlas, and Atlas himself was already completely unconscious.

Then something began emerging from his body.

A faint crimson light appeared around his chest before slowly becoming denser. It did not come from the surrounding Ruin, nor did it resemble the Spirit Energy that had filled the chamber earlier. The crimson light continued gathering around Atlas while his unconscious body remained completely still.

Slowly, it began taking shape.

A Book.

The Codex emerged from Atlas on its own.

It had not been summoned by him, and Atlas wasn’t even conscious enough to call upon it. Yet the Codex still appeared above his unconscious body as though its own condition had triggered something, its dark cover remaining closed for only a brief moment before the crimson lines beneath its surface began moving.

Then...

The Codex opened by itself.