Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

His eyes slowly moved toward Orivian. ”I never planned to use this because I don’t understand what it actually is, but it seems I have no other choice...” The moment he finished speaking, Atlas activated the Trait—Metadata Axiom—and its first ability, Interference with Reality Itself.

Atlas had already used almost everything he had against Orivian. He had considered using Null and the Active Vector, but he quickly dismissed both options because Orivian’s ridiculous speed made it almost impossible to land a direct attack.

The Flames of Nothingness were different. They had already interfered severely with Orivian’s abilities, making it impossible for him to simply touch Atlas while they surrounded his body.

That had allowed Atlas to continue fighting someone whose raw physical strength was far beyond his own. However, Atlas had already noticed that Orivian had somehow discovered a method of bypassing the Flames without directly touching them.

He had looked around the battlefield and seen everyone else trapped by the Rings, and after seeing Orivian repeatedly interfere with the Flames, he had already reached a conclusion.

’He seems to have figured out how to touch me even with these flames coating me. Must be that new ability...’ Atlas didn’t know how Orivian was doing it.

He didn’t know that Orivian wasn’t extracting the Flames of Nothingness themselves. Trying to extract them directly would be meaningless, because the Flames would simply turn the phenomenon attempting to interfere with them into Nothingness. Instead, Orivian had found a completely different way to exploit the existence of the Flames.

He was extracting the Spacein which they existed.

Orivian had realized something extremely simple after observing the Flames for long enough.

If the Flames of Nothingness could truly turn anything they touched into Nothingness, then why didn’t the Flames turn Atlas himself into Nothingness? Why didn’t they erase the Space immediately surrounding Atlas? Why could they continue existing around his body without destroying their own surroundings?

That question had eventually led Orivian to the answer.

The Flames themselves could exist because there was still a Space in which they were allowed to exist. That Space was not being turned into Nothingness simply because the Flames were present inside it. Therefore, as long as Orivian didn’t interfere with the Flames directly and instead removed the Space supporting them, he could bypass the Flames without ever having to overcome their effect.

His newly acquiredExtraction allowed him to exploit that loophole to its fullest.

Orivian finally turned away from the unconscious and half-dead Dragon Emperor and looked toward Atlas. Nothing appeared to have changed about the young man’s body. There was no visible transformation, no new weapon, and no additional energy surrounding him. The Flames of Nothingness were still the only thing covering his body.

Orivian frowned slightly.

’Then what was he planning to use?’ Before he could investigate further, the entire domain suddenly shook.

”What’s happening?” Kael asked as he arched an eyebrow. The Rings surrounding everyone trembled violently, and even the darkness stretching across the enormous domain began to ripple. Orivian immediately forced his will into his own Astral Domain, attempting to determine what had caused the disturbance.

Nothing appeared to be wrong.

There was no external attack, no foreign energy entering his Domain, and none of the people trapped inside the Rings had moved. Orivian expanded his perception throughout the entire Astral Domain, trying to determine what was causing the disturbance, but he couldn’t find anything that should have been capable of shaking his Domain like this.

The only thing that seemed different was his massive Halo floating above the darkness, which was shaking much more violently than the rest of the Domain.

Orivian focused his attention on the Halo and tried to stabilize it through his control over the Domain. However, the moment he did, a strange sound suddenly came from all around him.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The Rings surrounding everyone began developing cracks at the same time. The Rings around Atlas were affected, but so were the ones holding Solaris, Eliana, Kael, Velmira, and the others. Cracks rapidly spread across their surfaces before the Rings started breaking apart one after another, releasing everyone from the restraints that had kept them trapped inside the Domain. Orivian watched the scene with a frown as he tried to understand what was happening.

’What is this?’

At the same time, Atlas lowered his gaze toward his own hand. Something inside his eyes had changed, and strange characters had appeared within his pupils that even he didn’t know had appeared to begin with.

An enormous amount of knowledge was entering his mind again, but this time the information was different from what he had received from the Flames of Nothingness before. It wasn’t simply explaining how to use an ability. The knowledge was connected to the concept behind the Trait itself, and as more of it entered his mind, Atlas began understanding things he had previously been unable to comprehend.

Inside his right pupil, a single character slowly appeared ─ 無

Another character formed inside his left pupil ─ 理

The two characters were gradually etched into his pupils as if they were being carved into stone, and once both had completely formed, Atlas finally understood the name of the ability he was using.

無理 — Mu-Ri.

The moment the final character was completed, All the Flames of Nothingness surrounding Atlas’s body suddenly disappeared. At the same time, an intense pain spread through his mind as the remaining knowledge continued entering his consciousness. His body trembled slightly, and his vision became blurred for several seconds, but he didn’t scream this time.

The information was too extensive for him to process all at once.

Concepts that had previously seemed disconnected were suddenly becoming clearer, including several of the terms that had appeared repeatedly throughout the Codex. Atlas could finally understand the basic principle behind the ability, although even after receiving all that knowledge, he still couldn’t completely understand what Mu-Ri was capable of.

His eyes slowly moved toward Orivian while the knowledge continued entering his mind. He then looked toward the others, who were now free from the Rings, before finally turning toward the Dragon Emperor.

Zaakrax’s massive body remained motionless where it remained floating, his body heavily damaged and his Spirit Energy almost completely drained. His Astral Core and Soul Core had both suffered severe damage, he had already lost consciousness from the condition he was in.

Atlas continued staring at him for several seconds before slowly extending his right hand in Zaakrax’s direction, the moment he did, blood suddenly burst from his eyes.

BURST... SPLURT!

Atlas’s lips moved as several unfamiliar words escaped his mouth.

”無理 — 苦識干渉.”

Mu-Ri — Kushiki Kanshō.

The words echoed throughout the Astral Domain, causing everyone who heard them to look toward Atlas. Kael’s eyes widened when he recognized the language immediately, ’Japanese?!’ He didn’t have time to think about why Atlas was suddenly speaking Japanese as he witnessed something utterly impossible the very next second.

Zaakrax’s entire body suddenly began to glitch.

ZZTTTZZZ!

The effect started from his physical body, but it didn’t remain there. Parts of Zaakrax’s damaged flesh repeatedly shifted between different states, with destroyed organs appearing and disappearing before being replaced by new ones.

His damaged organs weren’t simply regenerating normally; their conditions were repeatedly changing as though the reality governing their existence was being rewritten.

The same thing happened to his Soul Core.

The cracks covering it disappeared for a moment before returning, then disappeared again as its entire structure changed. His Astral Core inside his abdomen underwent the same process, with its damaged state repeatedly being replaced by a completely different state before reality seemed to correct it again.

Then the effect reached something that shouldn’t have been physically possible to interfere with.

Zaakrax’s consciousness began changing.

For a brief moment, his consciousness reappeared and disappeared before returning again. His mind repeatedly shifted between being unconscious and conscious, as though two different conditions were being forced onto the same existence at the same time.

The damaged state of his body should have been causing his consciousness to fade, yet something was interfering with that connection and preventing the result from occurring normally.

Orivian immediately focused his special eyes on Zaakrax.

He could see what was happening inside the Dragon Emperor’s body, but the more closely he analyzed it, the more difficult it became to understand the phenomenon. The organs were changing, the cores were changing, and even Zaakrax’s consciousness was being affected, yet there was no normal flow of Spirit Energy that could explain the process.

’This isn’t regeneration...’ Orivian’s eyes narrowed, ’He’s not healing the damage either.’

He continued analyzing the phenomenon and finally noticed the real difference. The damage itself wasn’t being removed in the normal sense. Instead, the relationship between the damage and its consequences was being altered.

Pain was no longer necessarily following the damage, unconsciousness was no longer necessarily following the destruction of the cores, and the condition that should eventually lead to death was being interfered with as well.

The changes occurring inside Zaakrax’s body were simply the result of that interference.

Orivian’s expression slowly changed as he finally understood what he was looking at.

’He’s interfering with the logic connecting those conditions...’ His eyes remained fixed on Zaakrax’s body as another thought appeared in his mind, ’This kind of power...It is impossible for a Human to contain this kind of power.’

- - -

[A/N: I am not going to beat around the bush, I request you guys to answer my one question honestly.

Did you like these Chapters? or simply skimmed through them really fast because you don’t prefer these technical logics and mechanics of the abilities and stuff? I am not gonna lie, I worked really hard for these (╥﹏╥)(╥﹏╥), still tell me your honest thoughts!]