Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

For a long moment, Atlas simply allowed that feeling to wash over him as he stared at the empty sky above. After everything that had happened, after carrying the same hatred for so many years, he finally felt as though a weight had been removed from his heart. His eyes remained fixed on the clear sky as a thought slowly entered his mind.

’Maybe now... this world gets a little more merciful to people like my past self.’ He wondered about it for a moment before dismissing the thought almost immediately.

He couldn’t care less about what happened to others anymore. After all, even when he was still a child, he had been beaten by fellow commoners in the Slums, so he knew very well that cruelty wasn’t something exclusive to Nobles or Royals.

His gaze eventually shifted downward toward the Shrine that had remained beneath them. Billions of souls were still hanging from the roots and branches surrounding it, their existence appearing almost unreal after everything that had happened.

Atlas stared at them for several moments before another thought entered his mind. ’I should just live my own life peacefully without thinking about others and... maybe I won’t be alone?’ The thought was still forming when the Shrine suddenly began glowing. Atlas immediately narrowed his eyes as the entire structure, including its roots and branches, began breaking apart into countless motes of light.

The souls loosened from the branches as the structure disappeared around them, but before any of them could fall toward the ground, their bodies suddenly scattered into countless streaks of light.

Some flew only a short distance before disappearing, while others traveled toward the horizon at incredible speed until they eventually faded from sight. Atlas simply watched the scene unfold for several moments, trying to understand what was happening before the answer finally entered his mind.

’It must be Eliomor returning the souls to their respective bodies... though I wonder why did it even need to pull out all the souls of everyone around the world for the plan?’ He didn’t dwell on the question for long, because another presence suddenly appeared behind him.

Kael walked toward Atlas, his clothes still covered in blood from the previous battle. Despite his condition, his face carried an excited expression that made him look almost like a child who had just witnessed something interesting.

”Finally, that bastard is dead. Thanks, Atlas!” Atlas turned toward him and looked at his blood-covered clothes before glancing at his expression. ’He really is weird...’

Atlas then gave a small nod. ”Thanks to you as well, if not for that sword sealing of his powers, I wouldn’t have been able to take him down that easily.” His gaze then shifted past Kael toward the Dragon Emperor, who was standing nearby.

Atlas remembered the debt he had owed him and spoke calmly, ”I repaid the debt, I guess?” Zaakrax nodded in agreement, his golden eyes remaining on Atlas as he answered, ”You did.” Atlas simply nodded once in response before turning his attention toward the person floating slightly to the side.

Velmira remained silent with her head lowered, seemingly unable to meet Atlas’s eyes. As one of the Revenants, she knew that she was also guilty of what had happened to him, and she would never deny that fact.

However, Atlas had no knowledge that she was a Revenant, so he simply looked toward her and spoke, ”Thanks, Lady Velmira, for not interfering at that time.” Velmira lifted her head and looked at him in a daze for a brief moment before a tear rolled down her cheek.

She quickly wiped it away with her hand before speaking in a trembling voice, ”I... I am sorry. I was one of the Revenants serving the Royalty. Although I was tied by a contract and couldn’t do anything to Azarion or the deeds he was committing, that doesn’t excuse me for siding with him when you were sent to your death.”

Atlas looked at her crying expression for only a moment before exhaling quietly.

He didn’t have any reason to pretend that what happened in the past hadn’t mattered, but he also wasn’t interested in allowing someone else’s guilt to become his burden now that his revenge had finally been completed, ”It doesn’t matter if you were tied to them or not. I have fulfilled my revenge, and now only the official Nobles remain to be crushed under my clutches. Azarion was the main problem, and he is dead now.”

His voice remained calm as he said it, because for Atlas, the most important part of his revenge had already been completed. There was still the matter of the Nobles who had been involved, but Azarion had always been the central figure behind everything that had happened to him.

Atlas’s attention shifted again when Solaris approached from below. Before she could ask anything about Seraphiel, Atlas spoke first. ”Do not worry about Seraphiel. She is in a safe place.”

As he said those words, his mind immediately returned to the moment he had been dragged into that strange realm and everything that had happened afterward.

Someone might have wondered why Atlas had been willing to leave Seraphiel in a place he wasn’t familiar with and in the hands of people he didn’t know?

The truth was that he had never actually left her without protection.

The moment Atlas had entered that realm, he had silently used his ability to alter the Logic of the Space surrounding Seraphiel. He had already made certain that the space itself would protect her from anything that attempted to reach her, and from what he had sensed, the four individuals inside that realm were all around the same level as the Dragon Emperor.

’They would never even be able to land a finger on her, even if they were scheming against me through all of this.’ Atlas still didn’t trust any of them. After everything he had experienced, he couldn’t simply assume that someone had good intentions, especially when Seraphiel could potentially be used as a hostage or as leverage to force him into some one-sided contract.

Although making Atlas into a slave was practically impossible, he still couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility of someone possessing abilities similar to Orivian’s combined with a mind capable of scheming on the same level.

If such an existence appeared in the future, they could potentially place him in a situation where his current strength wouldn’t be enough to protect himself. Atlas narrowed his eyes slightly as that thought crossed his mind before looking down at his own hand.

’I still need to get stronger while I’m alive. If what those five said was really the truth, then there might be enemies in the future that are stronger than even Orivian.’ He finally held onto that resolve as the knowledge he had received earlier returned to his mind.

’A Galaxy... so our world lives exist inside something like that?’ Atlas wondered about it for a moment before shaking his head. There was no point in thinking about things he didn’t understand yet, especially when he had more immediate matters to deal with. His gaze then shifted toward Eliana and Kael, who had already begun speaking to each other, with Eliana seemingly worried about Kael’s injuries.

Seeing them together made Atlas think about Seraphiel again for a moment before his attention shifted toward Sylvaris.

”Thank you, Atlas Mariorett, because of you, someone of that caliber has finally died.” Sylvaris’s voice was calm as she spoke to him. Atlas nodded before returning the thanks, remembering that she had played an important role during the final confrontation by cutting off Orivian’s thoughts and consciousness when the opportunity had appeared.

Without that interference, the situation could have become considerably more complicated, especially with three different consciousnesses struggling for control of the same body.

Atlas was about to teleport away and return to that same realm by using the Logic alteration he had previously established on the Space where he had been taken when the familiar floating orb suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

The orb remained suspended in the air as the presence of Eliomor once again became apparent to everyone around it. Atlas stopped and looked toward it, while the others also turned their attention toward the supposed World itself, ”Now that everything is settled, you all are now eligible to be informed of the situation the world currently is.”

The floating orb remained completely still for a moment before Eliomor continued.

”We only have two months before another disaster even greater than this strikes.”

- - -

[A/N: A Big thanks to BoqorNasir for the Magic Castle!!

With this the Second Arc comes to an End! The third arc is about to begin from tomorrow!!

Thanks to you all your continuous support I could give it a proper ending, now the next arc is filled with much more, new threats and new adventures await all of you! so hold onto your seatbelts with popcorns!! Hehe~~]