Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

On the other hand, Atlas continued screaming as the pain caused by the reaction inside his body reached a level completely different from anything he had experienced before. His entire body was trembling uncontrollably, yet he couldn’t even move a single finger. His consciousness remained active, but his body had become almost completely unresponsive, leaving him floating in the air only because the remaining energy around him was still keeping his body suspended.

Every attempt to move caused another wave of pain to spread through him, forcing another scream from his mouth.

’I...can’t move...’

Atlas tried to force his arm upward, but nothing happened. His fingers remained completely still, and even breathing had become difficult as the reaction continued spreading throughout his body. He knew there was one way he could potentially escape from this situation, the Relic that could turn back time. If he managed to activate it, time would be completely rewound, allowing him to return to the moment before the claw had pierced his chest.

But there was a problem.

He didn’t have enough Spirit Energy.

Even if he somehow managed to gather enough energy to activate the Relic, his body was currently too damaged for him to use it properly. More importantly, he couldn’t even move his hand toward his pocket to take the Relic out. The distance between his fingers and the Relic was only a few centimeters, yet at this moment it felt impossible to cross.

’If only I could move...’

Atlas clenched his teeth as he tried again, but his body refused to respond.

There was another thing that gave him a small amount of hope.

Metadata Axiom.

That Trait had already protected him from countless situations where his existence should have been erased. Its description was simple, and Atlas had always relied on that fact whenever he encountered an ability capable of destroying existence itself.

’At least...I won’t die.’

The thought appeared inside his fading consciousness. However, almost immediately after he thought it, something inside his body began to change.

Atlas’s internal organs suddenly started disintegrating.

His eyes widened.

The destruction began from somewhere deep inside his body, spreading through his organs as small portions of his flesh simply disappeared. Atlas coughed violently as blood poured from his mouth, his expression changing completely when he realized what was happening.

’N-No...What is happening?!’

He had expected Metadata Axiom to prevent something like this.

’Shouldn’t the Trait let me avoid being erased from existence?!’

Before he could find an answer, another wave of pain struck him.

”KHUAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

His scream spread across the entire battlefield.

The disintegration was no longer limited to his internal organs. His heart began breaking apart, followed by his lungs, nerves, muscles, and countless cells throughout his body. The destruction happened gradually rather than all at once, but that only made the situation worse because Atlas could feel every part of his body slowly disappearing.

His brain was also beginning to disintegrate. Atlas’s thoughts became increasingly difficult to maintain as the reaction continued spreading.

Then, a realization finally reached him.

It was a realization that sent genuine terror through his entire existence.

’External...’ He remembered the wording of Metadata Axiom. The Trait prevented an External entity or threat from erasing him from existence, but...this wasn’t an external attack anymore.

The claw had already inserted the foreign forces into his body. The destruction occurring now was the result of an internal reaction between his own Null and those forces.

’No...’

Atlas’s eyes trembled.

’No...No...This can’t be...’

For the first time in a very long time, fear completely overwhelmed his anger.

’I haven’t fulfilled my revenge!’

His consciousness began flashing through everything he had experienced throughout his life. The memories didn’t appear in any particular order at first, but each one carried the same feeling of struggle that had followed him since childhood.

’I went through everything in life...’

He remembered being young, remembered the times when he had been beaten, the times when he had been forced to struggle just to survive, and the countless moments when death had appeared in front of him before he was even strong enough to understand what it meant. He had spent years becoming stronger because he had refused to accept the life that had been forced upon him.

’Does that mean...my life was meaningless?’

His body began losing its ability to remain suspended as the energy supporting him weakened.

’Was I supposed to just die after struggling for so long?’ Atlas’s body slowly began falling toward the massive chasm below.

He didn’t try to stop himself.

At this point, he no longer had the strength to do so.

His eyes slowly closed as his fading consciousness continued moving through his memories. He remembered the choices he had made, the enemies he had fought, the people he had killed, and the countless times he had pushed himself beyond his limits simply because there had been no other choice, ’What...wrong did I do to deserve this?’

The question remained inside his mind, ’Why did I have to suffer like this?’

His body continued falling.

’Why did I get beaten, struggle, and almost get killed by people since I was a kid?’ His memories continued flashing before him one after another, ’I kept trying to become stronger through hard work...I kept moving forward even when there was nobody to help me...’

Atlas’s body finally reached the ground.

THUD!

Whatever remained of his body crashed onto the bottom of the massive chasm, creating a small cloud of dust around him. There was almost nothing left that could still be considered intact. His organs had been destroyed, his nerves had begun disappearing, and large portions of his body had already turned into nothing.

Yet his consciousness remained.

’Nobody ever showed me a shred of kindness...’ A tear escaped from the corner of his eye, ’Nobody...’

Another memory surfaced, ’Nobody ever shared even a single piece of bread with me.’

His thoughts became increasingly bitter as the final pieces of his consciousness struggled to remain together, ’Nobody!!’

The anger inside his soul began growing stronger, ’Why did...I have to suffer like this?’

The anger wasn’t enough to stop the destruction, but it gave his soul something to hold onto.

Vengeance.

That single desire had carried him through most of his life.

’That man...’ Atlas remembered the person standing inside Azarion’s body, ’He wasn’t the Human King.’ The realization remained clear even while everything else around him was fading.’He was someone else...and he said he wanted to harvest my soul.’

Atlas’s thoughts became increasingly bitter, ’Why is everyone so selfish?’

He remembered the people who had hurt him, the people who had used him, and the people who had simply ignored him when he needed help.

’Why is everyone such a piece of shit in this world?!’ His soul trembled as ethereal tears fell from even his soul, ’Just why?!’ But then, another memory suddenly appeared.

A familiar face.

Seraphiel.

Atlas’s thoughts became quieter as he remembered her.

He remembered her attitude toward him, the way she had behaved whenever he tried to leave, and the Spirit Contract that had originally made him believe staying near her was simply the logical choice. He remembered the loophole she had maintained within the contract, the one that had allowed her to keep him around despite giving him enough freedom to leave whenever he wanted.

Back then, Atlas had never thought too deeply about it.

But now, as his life was disappearing, he suddenly looked at those memories differently, ’Why did she do it...?’ He remembered her actions again.

’Was there some different motive behind it?’

Another memory surfaced.

Seraphiel’s face.

More specifically, her cheeks.

Atlas remembered how they would sometimes turn red whenever he looked directly at her face after arriving in Solara. At the time, he had simply considered it one of her strange reactions - the Hug she mentioned that day, something he never bothered to understand because there had always been more important things occupying his mind.

But now another memory connected itself to that one. He remembered seeing a Noble once, watching a woman react in a similar way when she was around the man she loved.

Atlas’s fading consciousness became completely still.

The answer finally reached him.

’Ahh...’ A faint and bitter realization appeared within his mind, ’So...she loved me?’

For some reason, that realization hurt more than the destruction tearing apart his body. He had spent so much of his life believing that nobody had ever genuinely cared about him, yet there had apparently been someone who had developed feelings for him without him even realizing it.

But it was already too late.

The remaining parts of Atlas’s body began disintegrating into dust.

His soul remained behind for a few moments longer, trapped in a strange state by the external force controlling the area. Atlas could still faintly sense that force pulling him toward the man who had attacked him, ’Why am I even remembering all of this?’

His consciousness was almost gone.

’I’m dying now anyway...’

A final thought surfaced.

’It doesn’t matter if she loved me or not...’

The force suddenly pulled harder, the moment it did, Atlas’s soul was dragged away from the remains of his body which turned into dust and his soul went toward the distant figure standing above the battlefield.

There was no strength left to resist, his consciousness finally disappeared.

The last thing Atlas felt was himself being pulled into something that seemed completely endless.

Then everything became dark.

Atlas Mariorett...had truly died this time.

- - -

[A/N: Many thanks to Boqor_Boqor for the super gift! read creator’s thoughts~~]