Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

The Dragon Emperor, Zaakrax, looked at Kael for a brief moment from the other side of the barrier before his figure vanished and reappeared slightly away from Kael, his eyes now fixed on Atlas. Atlas looked at both of them before smiling, his smile slowly turning into a grin as he spoke to Kael, ”Thanks to you, I am now completely sure how and what to use against both of you.”

”As this is a spar, I will not be attacking with any of my erasure abilities. Let’s say I will not even use Aether Energy to give you two a chance.” The Dragon Emperor frowned as he replied to that, ”I know you are strong, but not using energy could put you at a massive disadvantage, that Logic Alteration ability might work without energy, but we have already seen it putting a strain on your mind.”

Atlas nodded with the same smile on his face, ”Oh, you don’t need to worry. I will use only a single technique for this whole match, and that will be more than enough.” Kael gritted his teeth while the Dragon Emperor felt increasingly suspicious of Atlas’s confidence.

Nevertheless, he shook his head and spoke up, ”Shall we begin, then?” Atlas and Kael nodded before suddenly both Zaakrax and Kael vanished from their positions.

Atlas remained where he was, floating in the air, his grin never leaving him as he felt excited to use the absurd technique he had developed just now. He had only recently come up with the application after observing Kael’s technique, and he was eager to see how it would perform against opponents who were already familiar with his abilities.

Just as both of them appeared in front of him in an instant, Atlas spoke up, his voice echoing throughout the arena, ”Spatial Spawn.”

At that same moment, the index finger and thumb of both his hands came together in front of him, and his hands moved away from a single point as though he were tearing something apart. The gesture was simple, but Atlas had already established the principle behind the technique in his mind.

For a moment, nothing happened...nothing at all.

Kael and Zaakrax, who were already using their strongest moves powered by Aether Energy and were already upon Atlas, frowned at that. However, their confusion lasted only a moment before both suddenly felt their internal organs being squeezed as they were pushed in all directions.

The sensation came from inside their bodies, leaving them unable to immediately understand what had happened or where the attack had originated. Both immediately used their spatial techniques to remove the effect, attempting to counter the unknown phenomenon before it could cause further damage.

However...

Just as they did so, SPLURT! BURST!

Their internal organs burst apart as their abdomens and backs were torn apart to shreds, while a tear in space directly inside each of their stomachs became clearly visible. The spatial distortions had appeared inside their bodies without any attack travelling through the space between Atlas and his targets.

Even though both had reacted immediately, the damage had already been inflicted before they could completely remove the effect.

KHUG!! GAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Both screamed in pain and fell onto the platform without being able to do anything, massive amounts of blood coming out of their mouths, noses, and ears. The tears in space inside their stomachs seemed to pull them inward, as though their bodies were being dragged toward the spatial distortions.

If they didn’t remove those tears immediately, the consequences could become even worse than the injuries they had already sustained.

But before that could happen, Zaakrax used his Nihility to erase the very tear in space completely, preventing it from pulling him further inward. Kael, on the other hand, immediately used his Monolog Series Three ─ Link Severance.

It was one of his Monolog Series techniques that allowed him to sever the link between himself and almost anything connected to him, regardless of what that connection was.

He immediately severed the link between himself and the tear in space inside his stomach, causing it to disappear. Afterwards, he used his healing ability once again to repair the damage to his body, recovering from the attack before getting back to his feet.

He then looked toward Atlas alongside Zaakrax, both of them now able to stand despite the injuries they had just suffered.

Atlas looked at both of them from above and finally spoke up, ”Your technique had a limitation that it somehow needed to put a mark on my body to spawn the attack directly upon me.” He paused before continuing, allowing his words to sink in, ”But now, after analyzing it and combining it with the ideas I had, I removed that limitation.”

Kael’s eyes widened as he swallowed hard, ’What the fuck is he talking about? That attack was somewhat similar to what I have seen in anime...’

His mind couldn’t comprehend how someone could even come up with something like Spatial Spawn just from analyzing Martial Cadence only once. Kael had developed his own technique after putting considerable thought and effort into it, yet Atlas had observed it during their spar and immediately found a way to use a similar principle without its original limitation.

The sheer absurdity of what he had witnessed filled his mind with terror, making him question just what kind of existence he was standing against, ’Now I really have doubts about him being a human.’

Before he could think any further, Atlas continued, ”My technique, Spatial Spawn, has the same ability to delay the result of the attack and spawn it directly upon the target, but it doesn’t need any mark upon the target. It will be a complete surprise to any enemy when their insides get torn apart just like now.”

His grin widened even further as he continued, ”Though it is not the full technique itself, but only an application derived from it.”

Zaakrax and Kael both couldn’t help swallowing as they glanced toward each other. Kael, in particular, felt as though he had made a terrible mistake by allowing Atlas to observe his technique. ’Fuck, I just gave away another technique to this monster! Does he have some adaptation ability? How is he able to adapt to things this quickly?!’

He felt completely cheated, even when he was the one who had a system. He had expected his system to give him some sort of advantage, yet Atlas was developing techniques by observing others as though it were the most natural thing in the world. ’Sigh, seems like my system is not that great...’

[...]

The system window popped up with a speechless text. It couldn’t believe how shameless its host could become, especially when Kael was the one who had proposed the spar and willingly used his own technique in front of Atlas.

Yet instead of accepting that his opponent had simply learned something from the exchange, he was blaming the system for not being good enough.

Nevertheless, Atlas shifted his eyes toward both of them and asked, ”Do you two still want to continue this spar? I think this much sparring has fulfilled your main purpose of learning something, hasn’t it?”

Both Zaakrax and Kael flinched as they looked at each other, wondering how Atlas had figured it out. They had not directly explained their intentions, yet Atlas had already understood that learning something from the match had been their main purpose.

Atlas exhaled and spoke up again. ”It was obvious. You people already know you can never win against me. From that alone, one can see the truth.” He wasn’t particularly bothered by their intentions, as he had also gained something from the spar.

The technique he had developed was already enough to make the exchange worthwhile, even though he had deliberately refrained from using his erasure abilities and Aether Energy.

”Well, I also learned quite a bit and developed a good technique, so I guess we could call it even, as I had planned the same when he proposed the spar.” A moment of silence passed before Zaakrax and Kael nodded at him. Zaakrax was the one to speak next, acknowledging the outcome while also explaining his own thoughts.

”Although I didn’t get to showcase my new abilities, I am content with just this. Even if I were to unravel them, they would be meaningless against you.” He paused briefly before finishing, ”So I accept defeat in this spar.”

Kael also spoke up next with a genuine apologetic voice, ”I am sorry, Atlas, for not being straight with you when I proposed the match. I also accept defeat.” Atlas sighed and nodded before snapping his fingers, causing the barrier around them to wear off.

He then looked toward the others who had been observing the fight from outside, having watched the entire exchange between the three of them.

”You people can spar inside here if you want. I have some business to attend to. As far as I know, the Dragon Emperor can handle this space easily.” Everyone nodded at his statement before seeing him vanish from his position.