Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

The woman remained floating in the air in the same position, her body still trembling from the fear that had taken control of her. Her pupils shook as she struggled to speak, but after taking a moment to gather herself, she finally began explaining what she had seen.

”I... I saw a silhouette. I-It was massive and had two abyssal eyes, and when I stared at it for not even a split second, it stared back at me and my eyes were destroyed completely.” The moment those words left her mouth, Atlas frowned slightly.

”Huh? What did you say? Repeat that again.” The woman’s body trembled even more when she heard the confusion in his voice.

For a moment, she wondered whether Atlas was deliberately pretending not to hear what she had just said, but when she repeated the same explanation again, his expression only became more confused.

He wasn’t questioning whether she was lying, nor was he struggling to understand the absurdity of what she had described. The problem was much simpler than that.

He couldn’t understand her words at all.

When she had first spoken, Atlas had assumed that she was using a language he didn’t know. That explanation seemed reasonable, especially considering that she had already revealed herself to be from another world and another race.

However, Atlas immediately altered the logic governing language around himself, allowing him to understand the meaning behind her words regardless of the language she was using. Yet even after doing that, the sounds coming from her mouth remained completely incomprehensible.

Instead of recognizable words, Atlas heard a strange mixture of distorted tones and mechanical-like sounds. Her voice seemed to be carrying information that his Logic itself couldn’t properly interpret, as though whatever she was trying to communicate couldn’t be translated into any language he understood. What reached his ears sounded more like gibberish than an actual language. ”◼◼◼◼◼##$#$” was essentially all Atlas could hear.

’What’s happening? Something is wrong with what she’s speaking...’

Atlas frowned as he tried to understand the problem, but after another moment, he decided there was little point in wasting time on it. ”I still can’t understand what you’re saying. Forget it for now and answer my questions.” The woman immediately nodded hurriedly without showing even the slightest resistance.

She had already experienced the sensation of Death despite being the one who controlled the Law of Death, and she had also witnessed that terrifying silhouette behind Atlas. She had no desire to fight someone who could make her experience genuine fear despite possessing control over Death itself.

”First of all, where is this place?” Atlas asked calmly.

”This is a barren world and nothing more, S-Sir...” The woman hesitated at the end of her sentence because she suddenly realized that she didn’t know his name. Atlas noticed her hesitation and introduced himself without any concern.

”It is Atlas, Atlas Mariorett.” He didn’t feel that revealing his name would put him in any danger at this point, especially considering the woman’s current state and the fact that he had already demonstrated overwhelming abilities in front of her.

’Hmm, a barren world... I see, so what Eliomor was saying was true. There really are other worlds out there.’ Atlas thought as he processed the information. The realization itself wasn’t particularly surprising after everything he had already learned about the Galaxy, but hearing that this place was an actual World rather than a Ruin changed the situation considerably.

He immediately continued questioning her before his thoughts could wander too far.

”What were you doing here, and who are you? I sensed three other people around this World when I arrived.” The woman continued trembling as she answered, ”W-We are from the ’Mermaid’ race, from a World known as ’Frostars.’”

She paused briefly before continuing, ”We came here while venturing through the Galaxy to find a certain person, but we stumbled upon this barren World and wanted to take its ’Core.’ The other three are my subordinates, Sir A-Atlas.”

Atlas silently processed her answer. ’So this wasn’t a Ruin? It was a World, even bigger than Eliomor.’ His eyes narrowed slightly as another question immediately followed. ’But then... why did those records say it was filled with S-rank Monsters? I need to ask her more.’ The information didn’t make sense when compared with what he had previously learned about this place, and Atlas wasn’t willing to simply ignore the contradiction.

”Hmm, so you came from a different World to find a certain person, but then stumbled upon this World and decided to take its ’Core’? What is a ’Core’ of a World? And... what would you have done with it?” Atlas asked calmly, his questions becoming more focused as he tried to understand what exactly the Mermaid race had been planning.

The woman seemed to tremble slightly less now as she realized he was simply asking questions rather than preparing to attack her.

”T-The Core of a World is its fundamental foundation, type of a source of the entire world.” She swallowed nervously before continuing, ”Everything that belongs to a World is connected to it in some way... its energy, its Laws, its space, its life, even the stability of the World itself.” Her voice remained unsteady, but she forced herself to continue explaining after seeing that Atlas was listening.

”A World can lose its cities, its continents, Empires, Kingdoms, or even most of its living beings and still continue to exist. B-But the Core is different. It is what keeps all those things connected as a single existence.”

She paused briefly before finishing her explanation, ”If the Core is destroyed or removed, the World itself, along with its will, will collapse instantly.” The woman lifted her head slightly as she spoke, noticing that Atlas had become thoughtful again.

Atlas nodded slowly as he processed the information, but before he could ask another question, the woman continued explaining what they had intended to do with the Core. ”W-We were trying to get the Core so we could absorb its life force. With the life force of an entire World, our ’Mermaid’ race would become even stronger in the future.”

Her words made Atlas narrow his eyes slightly as he considered the implications.

”You can absorb the Core of a World? Just like that?” Atlas frowned as he questioned whether obtaining and absorbing something like a World Core could truly be that simple.

He remembered how Orivian had once fused two completely different abilities to create an Ultimate Ability, and even then, the Laws themselves had interfered directly with the process. Something as fundamental as a World Core should naturally trigger an even greater reaction from the Laws governing existence, or at least that was what Atlas initially assumed.

The woman immediately shook her head. ”Although it is not that easy, as the moment you try to absorb the Core of a World, you would either burst apart yourself because of the immense energy and life force it carries, or...” She hesitated again, her expression becoming more fearful before she finally continued, ”Something beyond the Galaxy itself will kill you.” Atlas nodded as he understood the first possibility, but the second immediately caught his attention.

’Something even beyond the Galaxy? Sigh... how many things are there?’ Atlas could only shake his head at the thought before returning to the matter at hand.

”Then how were you planning to absorb it with that much risk?” he asked, genuinely curious about the method they had intended to use. The woman trembled again before answering carefully, ”W-We wouldn’t have absorbed it immediately, as that is impossible to begin with. We would have taken it to our World first and then absorbed it along with our World’s will.”

She paused for a moment before continuing, ”As for how we were going to take it, that is simple. We would fool whatever power is governing these types of Worlds.”