Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Before Reiden could respond to his question, Atlas’s attention was suddenly drawn toward the strange letters that had begun appearing on the Codex.

At first, he thought they were simply being written onto the page like the previous information, but that assumption was immediately proven wrong when several of the letters slowly moved beyond the surface of the page and began floating in the empty air in front of him.

’Wh-What? What’s happening?’ Atlas stared at them with confusion as the familiar information appeared beneath the details of his Zero Inscription.

[ Classification: Koyu-Kokuin (固有刻印) — Inherent Inscription ]

[ Progress: Rei-Kokuin (零刻印) — Zero Inscription ]

[ Active Vector: Kankon-Rei (還痕零) ]

[ Kankon-Rei (還痕零): User’s Bloodline’s Inherent 1st Inscription — Zero Inscription’s Active Vector Core Ability ]

Atlas carefully read each line as it appeared, but none of these details were actually surprising to him anymore. He already knew about Koyu-Kokuin and Rei-Kokuin, while Kankon-Reihad also been revealed as the Active Vector Core Ability of his first Inherent Inscription. However, there was one more line that was different from the others, and unlike the previous information, this particular line did not remain on the page.

[ Inherent 2nd Inscription: Mu-En (無炎) — Flames of Nothingness ]

The moment the final line appeared, the letters themselves began moving.

Atlas’s eyes widened as the entire name slowly separated from the page and floated into the empty air. The characters remained together for a brief moment before something completely unexpected happened. The written name suddenly began changing its form, the letters twisting and disappearing as a small black flame emerged from where they had been floating.

Fssssss...

The quiet sound of burning filled the area.

A completely black flame appeared in front of Atlas, no larger than his palm. It didn’t spread outward, nor did it produce the usual light that a normal flame would create. Instead, it simply burned quietly in the air, its darkness seeming to absorb everything around it without actually affecting the surroundings.

Atlas stared at it for several seconds.

Even though the flame was incredibly small, the feeling it gave him was completely different from anything he had encountered before.

If someone at the pinnacle of strength in this World were standing in front of it, the mere presence of this flame would have been enough to make them instinctively flinch and understand that it was not some ordinary Elemental flame. There was no visible explosion, no overwhelming release of power, and no destructive shockwave, yet something about its existence was different.

Atlas’s expression became slightly more serious as he continued observing it, ’Flame of Nothingness? Isn’t it almost the same as the Zero Inscription?’

He already knew what Nothingness represented, so the name immediately caught his attention. The Zero Inscription itself was connected to the concept of Nothingness, and now his second Inherent Inscription was apparently something called the Flames of Nothingness.

’But why is it coming out of the page? And why did the name itself turn into the flame?’ That was the part he couldn’t understand.

Atlas had seen strange things happen with the Codex before, but even by the Codex’s standards, this was unusual. The information had not simply described the new Inscription. Instead, the very name of the Inscription had transformed into the thing it represented.

He continued staring at the black flame while trying to understand what had happened. Then, after several seconds, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

’Ah! Now I understand...’ Atlas narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the flame, ’If it is the Flame of Nothingness, then except for the flame itself, even the name is Nothing.’ His expression slowly changed as the pieces connected in his mind.

’That means its name itself cannot exist.’

The conclusion made sense to him. If the flame truly represented Nothingness, then the name of that Flame itself which was in actuality - ’Mu-En (無炎)’, it should also be something that could not continue existing. The moment the name manifested, it had effectively become Nothing itself, which explained why the letters had disappeared and transformed into the actual flame.

Atlas couldn’t say whether that was truly the reason, but based on everything he had experienced with the Codex and the nature of Nothingness, it was the explanation that made the most sense to him.

He looked at the black flame for another moment before finally asking, ”What should I do now, though? There are no instructions like the previous time...” The moment the words left his mouth, the black flame suddenly moved.

Atlas’s eyes widened slightly as the flame floated toward him. It moved slowly at first, traveling through the air until it was directly approaching his chest. Atlas instinctively became more alert, but he didn’t retreat. He simply watched the flame approach him while remaining completely still.

He had already encountered too many strange things when it came to the codex, to be frightened by something strange again did not sit right, More importantly, he had learned one thing from all of those experiences.

The Codex would or could never harm him.

He didn’t know why he had such certainty, nor could he explain how he had reached that conclusion. Perhaps it was simply his instincts, or maybe something deeper within him understood the Codex better than his conscious mind did. Whatever the reason was, even his instincts seemed to remain strangely silent whenever the book was involved, as though they didn’t consider it something he needed to fear.

Because of that, Atlas simply stood there and allowed the flame to approach, the black flame stopped when it was only a centimeter away from his chest.

Then it entered his body.

Atlas didn’t feel any burning sensation.

His clothes weren’t damaged either, despite the fact that he had expected them to be completely erased the moment the Flame of Nothingness touched them. The flame passed through the fabric without leaving even the slightest mark and disappeared directly into his chest, almost exactly the same way the Codex itself had entered his body in the past.

Atlas lowered his head slightly and looked at his chest, ’It really doesn’t intend to harm me.’

There was still one question that bothered him, however.

If this was truly the Flame of Nothingness, then how had the stopped time around him remained intact?

Atlas looked around at the frozen surroundings for a moment, ’If it can turn even its own name into Nothingness, shouldn’t it be capable of burning this entire stopped time into Nothingness as well?’ The question appeared naturally in his mind, but Atlas dismissed it almost immediately.

This was the Codex’s doing.

The flame had come from the Codex, just as the Zero Inscription and everything else connected to his Bloodline had appeared through it. If the Codex could stop time without being affected by the very concept of Nothingness it had just manifested, then there was no reason for Atlas to assume that the normal rules of existence applied to it.

The Codex really was something completely different.

Atlas couldn’t understand what the book actually was, where it had actually come from, or what its limits were. Every time he thought he had begun to understand it, something even stranger would appear.

For now, he could only accept that the Codex existed beyond the things he currently understood. He slowly shook his head and focused his attention back on the change occurring inside his body.

The assimilation of the second Inherent Inscription had finally begun.

Just like when the Zero Inscription had been integrated into his body, information suddenly began flowing directly into his mind. Atlas didn’t need to read anything from the Codex this time because the knowledge itself was being transferred into his consciousness, allowing him to understand the existence of Mu-En directly.

However, the amount of information was far greater than he had expected.

Atlas’s expression slowly became blank as his consciousness began sinking under the enormous amount of information entering his mind. His body remained completely motionless despite the changes taking place within him, and for several moments, he continued standing in the exact same position.

Then his consciousness finally disappeared.

Atlas went unconscious while still standing, at the same time, the black flames of ’Mu-En(無炎)’ began spreading across his body.

The Flames of Nothingness covered his chest first before gradually extending toward his shoulders, arms, back, waist, and legs. The flames continued spreading until Atlas’s entire body was surrounded by the completely black fire.

Yet the flames didn’t burn his clothes, nor did they damage his body.

They simply remained around him, silently burning as the assimilation of his Inherent 2nd Inscription, Mu-En — Flames of Nothingness, continued, and Atlas remained standing inside the stopped flow of time, completely unconscious as the second Inherent Inscription began becoming a part of him.