Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Far away from the beam emerging from the Human Continent, in Solara, Solaris had returned to the Continent of Celestara and gone directly to her villa with Seraphiel. She had no other work to deal with today because of the meeting, and she had already informed the Royal Council and the Revenants that she would be absent for the rest of the day.

After arriving at the villa, Solaris returned to her usual childish behaviour and spent several hours with Seraphiel before the latter eventually managed to shift the conversation toward Atlas and the Ruins of Eclipse.

Solaris had assured her that there was no reason for her to worry about Atlas because he was already far too strong for a Ruin like the Ruins of Eclipse. Seraphiel still had several questions about him, however, and the more she asked, the more embarrassed she became whenever Solaris teased her about it. The two were currently sitting on Seraphiel’s bed and talking about Atlas when both of them suddenly felt something completely different from anything they had sensed earlier.

The energy reached them even from that distance.

Seraphiel immediately stopped speaking as she looked toward the window, where the sky had begun changing colour. The clouds above Solara rapidly turned dark while an oppressive presence spread through the surroundings, and Solaris’s expression changed at once. The smile that had been on her face disappeared as she narrowed her eyes toward the direction of the Human Continent.

Seraphiel noticed the change and became serious as well. ”What is that?”

”I don’t know yet, but I don’t like it,” Solaris replied as she stood up. ”I will be going, Seraphiel. Do not take a step outside the villa. Your father is here, but if this escalates into something like a war, I still doubt that this house will be completely safe.”

Seraphiel immediately understood why Solaris was worried. Even from this distance, she could feel the overwhelming intensity coming from that energy, and the pressure made her instinctively clutch her chest before nodding. Solaris did not waste any more time explaining herself. She simply teleported from the villa and reappeared in front of the source of the disturbance, floating several meters above the destroyed garden of the Palace where the thick red beam was shooting endlessly into the sky.

The moment she arrived, Solaris sensed another presence approaching from her right. She turned her head and saw Eliana appear with her masked disciple behind her, and before Solaris could say anything, another powerful presence arrived from the same direction. It was Thorsin, the Dwarven King, who had come alone. None of them needed to ask why the others had come because the answer was obvious. Every powerhouse capable of sensing this energy had felt the disturbance, and the beam was impossible to ignore.

Solaris moved beside Eliana and looked toward the endless beam of mixed Null and Spirit Energy. ”So our suspicion was correct. Something forced him to make his move much earlier than expected.”

Eliana nodded while keeping her eyes on the beam. ”Yes, we were right. It seems Azarion has gone even lower this time. You can feel it too, can’t you? His presence is mixed with the energy. He integrated himself with the experiment.”

Solaris remained silent for a moment before slowly exhaling. ”So, in simple terms, even if the Ancient Pope hadn’t severed the Oath today, Azarion had already prepared a loophole. His identity would no longer remain Azarion Embersun after the transformation, which would give him the freedom to attack another Continent or its rulers without directly violating the Oath.”

”Exactly,” Eliana replied. ”He would have done precisely that. But the other way around might not have worked. We wouldn’t have been able to attack him either, because who knows if he has some method of returning to Azarion the moment we tried to retaliate? The Oath would have prevented us from harming him if he returned to his original identity.”

Eliana’s expression became more serious as she continued, ”He is cunning, Solaris. Do not underestimate him. Although what concerns me now is that this is happening far earlier than I expected. More importantly, we still don’t know his true goal.”

Solaris frowned at those words, but before she could answer, Eliana continued explaining her thoughts. ”Think about it. Even if Azarion somehow conquered every Continent except the Dragon Continent, what would he actually gain? Even with all that power, Zaakrax and the Dragon Continent would still have enough strength to wipe him out from the face of Eliomor.”

Solaris raised an eyebrow before slowly nodding. ”He is already a King, so simply becoming the King of multiple Continents wouldn’t be enough for him. And let’s assume he somehow manages to conquer the Dragon Continent as well. What happens after that? Does he simply become the King of the entire world?”

She narrowed her eyes while looking at the red beam, ”Then...what could his ultimate goal possibly be?”

A clapping sound suddenly came from above.

Solaris and Eliana immediately looked up, while Thorsin, who had been listening from slightly farther away, also turned his attention toward the sound. The Dragon Emperor was floating above them, slowly clapping his hands as an amused smile appeared on his face, ”Incredible, to think you not only figured out the loophole Azarion was planning to use but also realized that conquering all the Continents is not his ultimate goal. Truly impressive.”

Solaris raised an eyebrow at Zaakrax’s words, while Eliana immediately turned toward him and spoke with respect. ”Thank you for your compliment, Dragon Emperor.”

Zaalrax nodded before slowly descending until he was at the same height as the others. However, while the rulers were discussing Azarion’s intentions, Kael remained focused on the beam behind Eliana. His eyes narrowed beneath his mask as he watched the strange mixture of energy continuing to rise into the sky, ’System, what kind of energy is that? I’ve been in this world for a year, yet I’ve never seen anything like it before. Do you know something?’

[Analyzing the Substance mixed with Spirit...]

[Failed!]

Kael’s eyes widened Instantly, ’What?’

[Analyzing again...]

[Failed!]

For the first time since he had obtained the System, Kael saw it fail to analyze something. His expression became serious as he continued staring at the beam, ’Why are you failing to analyze something like this? I haven’t even reached the kind of level where things powerful enough to challenge your analysis should appear.’

The System screen suddenly flickered.

[Error! Error! Error!]

Kael’s eyes widened further as another message appeared.

[Analyzing Successful!]

For a moment, Kael simply stared at the screen before reading the information that followed.

[Null: A Conceptual Attribute emerging from species that are born in ’Nothingness’. #$@#%@$ was the first primordial being to control this attribute to its fullest.]

[More Information is unavailable as Host is too weak mentally to handle it.]