Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

’It must have been only that woman who had come here. Now—!’ Before he could finish his thought, Atlas’s instincts suddenly screamed at the highest level. The warning came so suddenly that Atlas immediately understood that someone had entered his blind spot without him noticing.

Someone was behind him, and it was someone he recognized immediately.

Atlas’s head slowly began turning, but before he could even complete the movement, the same figure suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

Trelisa stood there as though nothing had happened, one hand already resting against Atlas’s shoulder, while her playful expression had returned as she looked at him with clear interest before speaking”You are quite the anomaly, those flames were dangerous, and the way you locked me in , space is beyond just a strange ability. Those flames even had the capability to kill me, a Sovereign.”

Atlas’s eyes widened in shock.

He had just watched the Flames of Nothingness consume her entire body, yet...Trelisa was standing in front of him without even a visible injury. Whatever she had done to survive the attack was something Atlas had completely failed to perceive, and that immediately changed his understanding of the situation.

He had assumed that landing Mu-En on her would be enough to end the battle, but the fact that she had survived meant that her abilities were far more troublesome than he had expected, especially because he couldn’t even determine what had happened after the flames had consumed her.

Trelisa paused for a brief moment before her smile widened. ”But nonetheless, you are coming with me, as I said.” Her voice entered Atlas’s mind at the same time her fingers tapped lightly against his shoulder.

The next instant, the space around Atlas distorted, and Atlas felt his entire being getting dragged somewhere he didn’t know. Before he could be dragged away, however, he immediately covered his entire body with Flames of Nothingness, causing whatever ability she was using to become meaningless.

The instant he coated his body with the Flames of Nothingness, the force trying to drag him away disappeared completely, forcing Trelisa to immediately remove her hand from his shoulder before disappearing from there.

”Tch, you are a bad boy, you know? You removed a lady’s hand when she was being generous? Hmph!” She spoke again with that same playful voice, but Atlas narrowed his eyes as he continued observing her.

’What did she use? I definitely felt her getting erased just moments ago.’ He couldn’t remove the feeling of dread he had felt just a moment earlier, yet he forced himself to think calmly about the situation. The fact that Trelisa had somehow survived Mu-En without suffering any injury was already enough to make him reconsider everything he had assumed about her abilities.

’Hmm, this is becoming a hassle. I could defeat her if she had come just a few days later because of the plans I had made...but, screw it.’ Atlas exhaled as if the entire situation was simply bothersome to him rather than dangerous, even though he had clearly felt that danger moments earlier.

He lifted his head and looked at the woman in front of him, only to see her frowning and changing her expression as she tilted her head. ”How dare you exhale as if all my words mean Nothing?” Her expression immediately became serious and angry, and her presence itself seemed to increase as Killing Intent poured out from her body.

The pressure she released now couldn’t even be compared to the pressure she had released beforehand, and she looked at Atlas with wide, rage-filled eyes.

”I wanted to play with you a little before taking you away, but it seems you do not care about your life.” She paused for a moment before extending her palm toward him.

”Law of Time — Forward Acceleration.”

Her voice echoed through the entire area as Atlas finally realized that she could directly control the Law of Time itself, one of the most terrifying Laws. Atlas widened his eyes only for a moment as he felt the force of the Law acting upon him, but just as it tried to affect him, the force vanished completely as it came into contact with his Flames of Nothingness.

Trelisa frowned as she sensed that her Law attack didn’t work at all, and her eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at the flames surrounding Atlas.

’What are those flames?’ She couldn’t understand how her control over the Law of Time had been completely nullified by the strange flames, yet Atlas remained standing in front of her without showing any signs of being affected.

The two of them remained facing each other for several moments, neither willing to back down from the confrontation. Atlas finally broke the silence, ”It would have been a bad matchup for you if you had met me some days later. For now, I think it is going to be a tie.”

Atlas paused before relaxing his entire body and lowering his guard completely as the Flames of Nothingness kept burning around his body. He had finally understood to some extent what Trelisa had done to avoid getting erased, although he still didn’t know exactly how she had accomplished it, ’She must have used the Law of Time even before I had attacked her.’

That was all he could conclude for now because he didn’t exactly know what her actual techniques regarding her control over the Law of Time were. He could only assume that she had somehow manipulated time before Mu-En reached her, allowing her to survive the attack in a way that he hadn’t been able to perceive.

”I am new to all these Galaxy matters, so I don’t know where you people’s headquarters is, and I also think you are not going to tell me that. If I knew that, I would have said ’Hello’ in the near future to them, for now only one choice remains...” Atlas paused again as he turned toward Melina, who was still treating her father, before returning his attention to Trelisa.

”One final attack will decide it with our strongest attacks.” His expression remained calm as he spoke, because he had no intention of simply leaving the matter unresolved while Trelisa was still his enemy. If they were going to settle the confrontation now, then he wanted to do it with their strongest attacks rather than waste more time testing one another.

Trelisa’s rage-filled expression vanished as it was replaced by her maniacal laughter as she spoke, ”Hahahaha! You think you can survive my strongest attack? If I unleashed that, this whole star system will be wiped out to ashes.”

The moment she spoke those words, Atlas arched an eyebrow as he understood to some extent the capability of the destruction she was talking about.

He had heard Melina mention a Star System when he had arrived back at the villa after sending Seraphiel, so he wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the term.

’She can wipe out a star system?’ He was shocked for a brief moment but then again after thinking a bit, ’...Still, it isn’t as though the strength of the ability decides the outcome. Even a weak ability can counter a strong one.’

Atlas remembered how Orivian had been dealing with his abilities even when Orivian’s abilities were slightly weaker than his, proving to him that raw destructive strength wasn’t enough to determine the outcome of a battle when abilities could directly counter one another.

Atlas was just about to lift his hand and start speaking when he and Trelisa both suddenly heard someone’s voice echoing throughout the entire world.

”I suggest both of you stop right there, or the consequences would be too severe.”

The voice carried across the entire world with enough authority that both of them immediately stopped what they were doing. Trelisa’s eyes widened as she recognized the voice, and her head snapped upward as her perception locked onto a figure beyond the layers of the world itself.

’The Conclave?!’