Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

The Singularity moved forward.

It was almost there.

Atlas could still feel the enormous pressure of the tiny rotating mass as he guided it toward the Freeze Gem embedded inside Azarion’s chest. The amount of Spirit Energy required to maintain the Singularity was far greater than he had expected, and even controlling it for a few moments was putting considerable strain on his body.

His arm trembled slightly beneath its weight, while the nerves inside his hand continued suffering from the pressure.

Yet Atlas didn’t stop.

He wanted to see what would happen when the two SSS-rank Traits were combined. The Freeze Gem had already spread its power through Azarion’s entire body, freezing his blood, bones, and organs at a fundamental level. If the Glacial Singularity was embedded into the same location, Atlas was certain the resulting pressure would make the pain several times worse.

The Singularity continued moving forward.

But...Just before Atlas could fully embed it into the position where the Freeze Gem had been placed, his movement suddenly stopped.

Atlas’s eyes narrowed, something was holding his wrist.

He looked down and saw a hand wrapped tightly around his arm.

It belonged to none other than...Azarion.

For a moment, Atlas simply stared at it.

The hand looked nothing like that of someone who had been half-dead only moments ago. The fingers were steady, the grip was firm, and there wasn’t even the slightest sign of weakness in them. More importantly, Atlas could feel a completely different presence coming from the body in front of him.

Then a voice came from Azarion’s mouth, ”Well, well, well... I can’t let you do that.”, The tone was completely different from Azarion’s, a mocking and amusing tone, ”This body is quite valuable, you know?” The figure paused as if considering something, ”Seems I should have woken up earlier. This Kid Azarion was quite a nuisance to my plans.”

A faint clicking sound came from his tongue.

”Tsk... But where is Veyron? I am unable to sense him... Hmm.” The speaker looked around calmly, apparently more concerned about Veyron’s whereabouts than the fact that he was currently standing in front of several of the strongest individuals in Eliomor.

Atlas’s eyes widened.

For the first time since he had obtained the power to stand against powerful Individuals, genuine shock appeared on his face.

He had been certain that Azarion was almost dead.

He had personally pierced through his chest and extracted the golden bead. He had then attacked him with Rei-Kokuin, an attack powerful enough that even the Dragon Emperor had considered it necessary to interfere and devour the Active Vector before it could continue destroying the surrounding reality.

After that, Azarion had remained barely conscious while Atlas froze his entire body and poisoned his blood. There was no reasonable explanation for what he was seeing.

’How is he still alive?’ Atlas stared at Azarion’s face.

The golden eyes were no longer glowing with the same arrogance he had seen earlier. There was something else behind them now, something that didn’t belong to the Azarion he had been fighting.

The rulers surrounding them also noticed the change.

Solaris’s expression immediately became serious as she stared at Azarion. She had witnessed his condition before this strange voice appeared, and even with her strength, she had never expected him to suddenly recover enough to move normally, much less stop Atlas’s attack with one hand.

Eliana’s eyes narrowed as she carefully observed the body in front of Atlas. She didn’t speak, but the sudden change in Azarion’s presence was enough to make her instinctively prepare herself.

Thorsin also had a similar reaction at this.

The Dwarven King had been watching the entire confrontation in silence, but the moment Azarion began speaking with a completely different voice, his expression changed. Whatever had just awakened inside that body was clearly not the Human King they had known.

Even Zaakrax, who had remained relatively relaxed throughout the battle, narrowed his eyes slightly, He felt something suspicious was going on here, first was Veyron’s sudden emergence in front of Velmira and now...this sudden different presence, ’Who is this? The presence feels even older than the Ancient.’

Something had changed inside Azarion’s body, and Zaakrax wanted to understand what it was before making another move.

Atlas didn’t have the patience to wait for an explanation. Whatever had happened, Azarion’s body was still in front of him, and the person controlling it was interfering with his revenge.

Without waiting for answers, Atlas immediately forced his arm forward.

The hand wrapped around his wrist was suddenly thrown away by the overwhelming strength behind the movement. The Singularity continued forward, accelerating toward the exact position where the Freeze Gem had been placed.

Atlas’s eyes remained fixed on the tiny blue rotating mass, ’It doesn’t matter who you are.’ His grip tightened, ’If you’re inside the Human King’s body and get in the way of my revenge, I’ll deal with you before I finish him.’

The Singularity was only moments away from reaching its target, then another hand appeared. It came from the side of Azarion’s body.

Atlas’s pupils contracted in pure horror at the scene he witnessed.

The hand moved directly toward the tiny Singularity and touched it.

The result was instantaneous.

The Glacial Singularity collapsed.

There was no explosion or shockwave.

The tiny rotating hole simply lost its structure the moment the hand came into contact with it, its compressed Spirit Energy dispersing into the air and mixing with the ambient spirit energy as though the force holding it together had never existed.

Atlas’s expression changed completely.

He stared at the hand that had destroyed his SSS-rank Trait with such ease that for several seconds he couldn’t even process what had happened.

The rulers were equally stunned.

Solaris’s eyes widened slightly as she watched the Singularity disappear. She had sensed the amount of Spirit Energy Atlas had poured into that attack, and she knew that destroying something like that without even producing a visible clash required an extremely unusual ability.

Eliana remained silent, but her gaze became considerably sharper, ’What exactly is controlling Azarion’s body?’ Thorsin’s expression hardened as well. He had already understood that this was no longer simply a battle between Atlas and Azarion.

Even Zaakrax’s amusement disappeared.

His eyes remained fixed on the figure standing before Atlas as he carefully observed the strange power that had just erased the Singularity. The Dragon Emperor didn’t know exactly what had awakened, but he could tell one thing with certainty.

The being controlling Azarion’s body was not ordinary.

Atlas slowly lowered his hand as his eyes moved from the destroyed Singularity toward Azarion.

The person standing in front of him smiled, ”You are an interesting Human, I must say, to wield powers from completely different worlds...” He looked at Atlas with an expression filled with curiosity, ”You must have obtained them from the Ruins.”

”Hehe...” A faint smile appeared across Azarion’s face, ”First, I will be harvesting your soul then...” His eyes slowly moved past Atlas toward the other rulers standing nearby.

”And then...”

His smile widened slightly.

”...the others present here.”