Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

A figure was standing high above the battlefield, watching the situation below with a calm expression. The voice had been familiar, but there was something different about the way it sounded now, something that immediately made Velmira’s instincts become alert.

She had heard that voice several times before, usually coming from someone who barely dared to raise his head whenever he was in the presence of a powerful Individual. Yet the person standing above her now was looking directly at her without showing even the slightest trace of fear.

Her eyes widened as she recognized the figure. For a brief moment, she simply stared at him before finally speaking, ”Veyron?!”

Velmira knew who Veyron was, although she had never paid particularly close attention to him in the past. He was the head of one of the Human Continent’s Noble families and was infamous among the higher-ranking Nobles for his obsession with research.

His name had appeared several times in reports concerning unusual experiments, but most of those reports had never contained enough information for her to consider him a significant threat. Eventually, however, Veyron had become the right-hand man of Azarion, and that alone had been enough to place him among the people Velmira considered suspicious.

Now, after everything that had happened, she finally understood something else.

When the three Chimeras had appeared and protected Azarion, when she had seen that strange Monster-like appearance of him, and when she had sensed the unknown substance mixed with his Spirit Energy, she had already realized that someone had been conducting those experiments for him. Azarion was a King, not a researcher. He could have ordered the experiments, funded them, and provided whatever resources were necessary, but he wasn’t the kind of person who would spend years personally performing them.

Veyron was.

’So he was the one behind those experiments...’

The thought itself wasn’t surprising anymore. What surprised Velmira was his current behavior.

Veyron had always acted carefully around powerful Individuals. Even when he was standing beside Azarion, he rarely spoke unless he was directly asked something, and whenever someone stronger than him appeared, his body language immediately changed. He would lower his head, avoid direct eye contact, and behave as though even breathing too loudly might attract unwanted attention.

But the Veyron standing above her was completely different.

He had just spoken to the strongest Individual in the Human Continent without hesitation, and his tone had contained no fear at all. In fact, there had been a faint amusement in his voice, almost as though he was speaking to someone whose strength was no longer relevant to him.

Velmira’s eyes narrowed.

’Why?’

She didn’t immediately attack him. Her instincts were telling her that something was wrong, and she had learned long ago that acting before understanding a strange situation could easily lead to the wrong path, she had once experienced. Her gaze moved across Veyron’s body as she carefully observed him. There was nothing obviously different about his appearance, yet the feeling he gave her was completely unlike the Veyron she remembered, ’Is he tangled with Eliomor itself?’

The possibility entered her mind because of the timing.

Eliomor had interfered with her soul only moments ago. It had prevented her from releasing the restraints she had been preparing to remove, and then Veyron had appeared almost immediately afterward and somehow knew that Eliomor’s will wasn’t responding to her.

That wasn’t a coincidence, it couldn’t be

Velmira reached toward the locket hanging around her neck and held Semekrus tightly in her left hand. Her fingers wrapped around the Relic as she focused her thoughts inward.

’Eliomor, do not feign ignorance. Why did you restrict me even when you said you were lifting them? Speak. What is it that you are plotting?’ She asked and waited for a response, anything at all.

Yet...Nothing came.

There was no response from Eliomor.

Velmira’s expression became colder as she waited for several more seconds. She had expected Eliomor to remain silent for a moment, especially after interfering with her soul, but complete silence was unusual. Even when Eliomor refused to answer her questions, she could normally sense its presence through their contract.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she was about to question it again, but before she could continue thinking about Eliomor’s silence, Veyron’s voice reached her, ”You might be wondering why Eliomor’s will is not answering, is that right?”

Velmira immediately turned her head toward him. Her expression changed as she realized what he had just said. He wasn’t guessing what she was thinking. He had stated it with complete certainty, as though he had somehow been able to hear the transmission she did to Eliomor. Velmira’s fingers tightened around Semekrus as she stared at him, ”What has that got to do with you?”

Her voice was cold, and the Killing Intent slowly began releasing from her body as she stared at Veyron. The surrounding atmosphere became heavier under the pressure, yet Veyron didn’t retreat. He didn’t lower his head, and he didn’t show the slightest sign of fear despite standing directly in front of the strongest being in the Human Continent.

”Do you want an easy death or something?”

Veyron arched an eyebrow as he felt the Killing Intent spreading around him. Unlike the Veyron she remembered, however, he didn’t become frightened. Instead, he simply looked at her with a strange expression before letting out a quiet laugh.

”Ah, haha...”

His shoulders moved slightly as he laughed, and his expression remained calm as he looked at Velmira from above, ”I must not have been clear enough.”

Velmira’s eyes remained fixed on him as Veyron slowly raised one hand before letting it fall again, almost as though he was preparing himself to explain something that he had been waiting to reveal for a long time.

”Let me tell you something,” he said as a strange grin appeared across his face.

”Something that will truly shake you to your core...”

Velmira didn’t respond. She continued staring at him while keeping her perception focused on every movement he made. She still couldn’t understand why Veyron was acting like this, but the longer she observed him, the more obvious it became that his confidence wasn’t an act. He genuinely believed that whatever information he was about to reveal was enough to change the situation between them.

Then Veyron finally spoke.

”The one you have been contracted with all these years...”

He deliberately paused, and Velmira’s eyes narrowed slightly.

”...was not Eliomor.”

Velmira frowned at what nonsense he was saying, she wasn’t shocked in the slightest, there was no need to be as it would only give Veyron the reaction he truly wanted. She only fell silent at the statement.

For a brief moment, the entire battlefield seemed strangely quiet, while veyron continued smiling as he watched her reaction.

”How could Eliomor even respond when it is not the one you contracted with?”

Then his laughter echoed across the battlefield, ”Hahahahahah!”

Velmira’s expression remained unchanged as Veyron’s laughter spread through the surroundings. Her mind was already moving through everything she knew about the contract, searching for even the smallest inconsistency that could support what he had just said.

But there was one thing she couldn’t ignore. Veyron had known that Eliomor wasn’t answering her. He had known exactly what she had been thinking, and he had spoken about her contract as though he knew something about it that he shouldn’t have been able to know.

Velmira slowly looked down at Semekrus in her hand before raising her eyes toward Veyron again. Her expression remained cold, but there was now a trace of caution in her eyes, ’What exactly does he know?’

She had spent a thousand years trying to understand Eliomor, yet even after all that time, there were still countless things she couldn’t explain about the existence she believed she had contracted with. If Veyron was lying, she would find out soon enough.

But if he wasn’t...

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[A/N: Sorry to inform you guys about this but I have been feeling down and losing motivation to even write Chapters as I am having to deal with the issues regarding WN income this month, Although I have some stockpiled Chapters with me, maybe one of these weeks I won’t be able to update Chapters, sorry for this guys.

Thanks for your support and understanding, as for those promised ten extra Chapters next month for the super gift, I had planned to upload them this month instead, and I had even already began stockpiling for them but it seems it will need to wait for next month...]