Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

A brief silence passed before the spherical object moved again, it slowly drifted away from Velmira’s face and stopped about a meter away from her, the intense light blue glow surrounding it remained visible even inside that endless darkness, though it was no longer as bright as before, and the moment it stopped moving, a voice echoed throughout the entire place.

A voice that was deep yet strangely light at the same time, making it difficult to even determine whether the voice belonged to an actual person or something completely different, ”You have come here after realizing that the continent you are constantly trying to protect will eventually come to an end because of the Dragon Emperor, is that right?”

The voice came directly from the spherical object, yet it didn’t feel as if it was coming from one specific direction, instead, it seemed to spread through the entire dark space at once, reaching every corner without losing even the slightest amount of clarity.

Velmira immediately noticed how Eliomor had completely ignored her previous question and instead changed the topic toward the reason she had come here, but she didn’t immediately answer, she simply narrowed her eyes and stared at the glowing sphere for several moments while trying to understand what exactly it was thinking.

After that brief silence, Velmira slowly closed her eyes and released a quiet breath, ”Sigh...” before opening them again and speaking in a calm but slightly tired tone, ”You are half correct and half wrong, the Dragon Emperor is not the one destroying the Human Continent, it is the King of the Human Continent himself, Azarion, and if things continue the way they are now then he will eventually drag the entire continent into whatever plan he is preparing, and I will inevitably be dragged into it as well.”

Her voice remained composed while she spoke, but Eliomor didn’t respond immediately, the spherical object simply remained floating in front of her without making any movement, almost as if it was waiting for her to continue explaining everything herself, and Velmira understood that silence clearly, she had come here for help, so she couldn’t expect Eliomor to simply accept her request without knowing what kind of situation she was facing.

”The Dragon Emperor has already stepped beyond the realm of Mortal Cultivation,” Velmira continued after another short pause, ”Mostleon already told me about it, and considering how strong he was even before reaching that realm, I don’t even want to imagine what kind of existence he has become now, the difference between his previous strength and his current strength should already be enormous, and if Azarion doesn’t stop whatever he is doing then he will eventually drag the whole Human Continent toward its end along with himself.”

She stopped speaking after that, her eyes lowered slightly as she stared into the darkness beneath her feet even though there was nothing there to actually see, the darkness was so complete that even the ground itself couldn’t be distinguished from the empty space surrounding her, but at this moment Velmira wasn’t paying attention to the environment at all, because her mind had already moved toward something she had tried to bury for a very long time.

The expression on her face slowly changed as several memories she rarely allowed herself to remember appeared in her mind, she remembered the people she had failed to protect in the past, her family members who had been killed without mercy, the trainees who had once followed her and trained under her with the intention of becoming Revenants, people who had trusted her strength and believed that she would be able to protect them when the situation became dangerous, yet all of them had eventually died under the previous Dragon Emperor.

She had been there when it happened, she had seen everything with her own eyes, and the worst part wasn’t even their deaths themselves, it was the fact that she had been unable to stop it, no matter how much she struggled or how much she wanted to interfere, the difference between their enemies and her strength at that time had made her resistance meaningless, leaving her with nothing except the memories of those she couldn’t save.

A drop of tear slowly escaped from the corner of her right eye and fell into the darkness beneath her, disappearing without making even the slightest sound, Velmira didn’t notice it immediately, but when she finally realized what had happened, her eyes widened slightly before she quickly raised her hand and wiped the tear away with her fingers, her expression returning to its usual calm appearance as she lowered her head for a moment.

The spherical object remained completely silent during all of this, it didn’t question her, didn’t mock her, and didn’t even make a single movement, which somehow made the silence feel even longer, Velmira remained like that for several moments before finally lifting her head again, taking a long breath and releasing it slowly, trying to push those memories back into the place where she normally kept them.

”I...” Her voice stopped for a moment as she looked directly at the spherical object, her usual confidence wasn’t present in her eyes this time, ”I need your help again, Eliomor.”

The moment those words left her mouth, silence once again returned to the entire dark space.

Velmira didn’t move after saying it, she simply stood there while holding Marvilas in one hand, the weapon remained mostly quiet, its surface giving off a faint glow once before returning to its previous state, and even that small change seemed noticeable in the endless darkness around them.

For several moments, neither Velmira nor Eliomor spoke anything, the spherical object continued floating in front of her while Velmira continued staring at it with a nonchalant expression, but there was something different about her eyes now, they didn’t have the same composed sharpness she usually carried when dealing with other people, instead, they looked detached, almost as if she had already exhausted every possible option available to her and this was the final place she could come to.

Eliomor finally moved after that long silence, the spherical object slightly shifted in the empty air before the same strange voice echoed through the darkness once again, ”What kind of help?”

Velmira’s eyes narrowed immediately.

She had expected a demand, perhaps some kind of condition that would make her hesitate before answering, because the previous time she had come to Eliomor for help, things had been completely different, it had known exactly how desperate she was at that time and had used that desperation against her, demanding her soul in exchange for the help she needed, leaving her with no easy choice at all.

But this time, Eliomor had simply asked what kind of help she wanted.

There was no demand, no condition, and not even the slightest hint of hesitation in its voice.

Velmira stared at the spherical object for several moments without saying anything, her expression remaining calm on the surface while her thoughts started moving rapidly.

’Why...is it agreeing this easily?’

Her eyes became slightly sharper as she continued staring at Eliomor,’The previous time I asked for help, it demanded my soul almost immediately because it knew I was desperate, it didn’t care about my situation and simply gave me a condition that I had no choice but to accept, but now it is asking me what kind of help I need without demanding anything?’

That difference alone was enough to make Velmira suspicious.

She knew Eliomor too well to believe that it was simply being kind to her, especially when the existence standing before her wasn’t an ordinary person but a consciousness of an entire world, something that could think on a level completely different from ordinary cultivators.

’Something has changed...’

Velmira’s fingers tightened slightly around Marvilas as she continued thinking, ’Either it already knows what I am going to ask for, or it has already gained something from my arrival here, and if the latter is the case...’

Her eyes slowly narrowed even further.

’Then what exactly is it planning?’

For the first time since entering this darkness, Velmira didn’t immediately know what to say. She had come here because she needed help, but the ease with which Eliomor accepted her request had made her question whether asking for that help was actually the right decision.

Yet despite all those doubts, she still couldn’t simply leave.

The Human Continent was facing a situation that she couldn’t solve alone, Azarion was preparing something she didn’t understand, the Dragon Emperor had already surpassed the realm of Mortal Cultivation, and whatever conflict was approaching would eventually involve every powerful figure in the whole world, and chaos all over the world might not just be some thinking, it might take shape in itself...which Velmira wanted to avoid at all costs, that...was also one of the reasons she was here at this moment.

Velmira slowly raised her head and looked directly at the glowing spherical consciousness.

She didn’t trust...Eliomor, not one bit.

But at this moment, she needed it...again, even after thousands of years, nothing changed.

And that made her grit her teeth in regret, regret of not just this moment, her whole life felt like a regret, yet...she held on, only because there were still things, still people she needed to, No...she had to protect.

Her grip around Marvilas’s hilt tightened as she gritted her teeth before finally speaking.

”I need...”