Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

”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?!’

Her thoughts immediately churned as she recognized who they were.

The Conclave... no, in better words, it would be the Primartia Conclave.

The Primartia Conclave was one of the highest authorities in the Primartia Galaxy, an organization established to maintain order among the countless Worlds and civilizations scattered throughout the Galaxy. It was not an empire, nor did it belong to any single race or World.

Instead, it existed as a governing organization composed of powerful Individuals selected from the countless races that existed within the Primartia Galaxy, with each member possessing enough authority and strength to represent their respective civilizations.

The Conclave rarely interfered in ordinary conflicts between Worlds, and as long as a dispute remained within the boundaries of a civilization and did not threaten the wider balance of the Galaxy, it was generally left for the involved parties to resolve themselves.

However, when a conflict involved the destruction of Worlds, Star Systems, the theft of World Cores, the emergence of dangerous artifacts, or forces capable of destabilizing large regions of the Galaxy, the Conclave possessed the authority to intervene. Its influence came not merely from its position, but from the power standing behind that position.

The founding members of the Conclave were among the strongest existences in the Primartia Galaxy, and even the most arrogant Sovereigns and Transcendent beings feared and respected them.

This organization did not particularly rule the entire Galaxy, instead, it maintained the balance within it, and whenever a situation threatened to disrupt that balance, the Conclave possessed the authority to interfere.

At this current moment, the Weimbrons, who had been one of the targets of the Conclave for thousands of years, had finally come within their grasp after countless years of hiding and stealing World Cores.

They had caused destruction throughout the Galaxy itself, repeatedly disturbed the balance between civilizations, and disappeared whenever the Conclave attempted to track them down. Their ability to hide their movements had allowed them to continue their activities for thousands of years without being properly captured, but this time they had finally been discovered.

The Conclave had been pursuing them for a long time, and the situation on Frostars had given them the opportunity to finally observe their methods directly.

Trelisa looked at the three figures floating in the empty space with an indifferent expression. Each one wore the black and purple robe of the Conclave organization, and each of them possessed an existence above Sovereign Rank.

They were Transcendent beings.

Trelisa clenched her teeth as she cursed inwardly, ’Tch! Because of that boy, we need to retreat without gaining anything!’ Her eyes briefly shifted toward Atlas before she turned back toward the three figures, clearly unwilling to remain any longer now that the Conclave had arrived.

”You made me waste quite a bit of time, you will pay for this in the future.”

Trelisa spoke with irritation as she looked toward Atlas. With that, she and the ship vanished from the World entirely, disappearing before Atlas could make another move. The three Transcendents from the Conclave stared at the empty space where the ship had disappeared with expressionless eyes, remaining silent for a brief moment before the figure standing in the middle finally spoke.

”Did you record the signature? They are not hiding in some dimension or Realm. It’s something else.” The other two nodded, and the female figure standing on the left spoke calmly, ”Yes, Captain, there is something fishy about their whereabouts. Though we have gotten a rough idea of their methods this time, that boy managed to stall quite a bit of time for our inspection.”

The captain remained silent for a moment as he considered her words, because all three of them already knew that they had arrived here the moment they received the message from the Mermaid King.

However, they had deliberately chosen not to reveal themselves immediately because they were working on tracking the ship’s location shifts and analyzing the methods the Weimbrons were using while simultaneously hiding their own presences completely.

Their purpose had not simply been to confront the Weimbrons head-on. All this while they had been inspecting the ship from inside out without revealing themselves, only after gaining everything they could, they came out in open.

Atlas’s interference had unexpectedly prolonged the confrontation, giving them more time to inspect the situation before Trelisa finally realized that remaining any longer would only make things worse for them.

After thinking for a moment, all three of them eventually turned toward Atlas, who was looking directly at them as though the three Transcendent beings standing before him were strange existences he had never encountered before.

All three Transcendents frowned slightly at his reaction, because they had expected someone at Atlas’s apparent level to be unable to properly perceive their presence, yet he was staring directly at them without hesitation.

The captain narrowed his eyes as he studied Atlas for several moments before a thought entered his mind, ’Why is he looking at us like that? Don’t tell me he can see our True Forms?’

The captain was skeptical about that possibility and quickly dismissed it entirely. From everything he had observed, this Human was already an Anomaly of the highest degree he had ever seen, especially considering the strange flames and spatial ability he had displayed during his battle with Trelisa.

However, being able to gaze directly at the True Forms of a Transcendent was something completely different. Even the captain couldn’t believe that someone at Atlas’s current level could perceive something that should be beyond his ability to comprehend, so he shook off the thought before the three of them vanished from their positions.

In the next instant, all three Transcendents reappeared directly in front of Atlas. The other two seemed to understand their captain’s next move without needing him to say anything, and they moved at the same time as him.

The captain was the first to speak, his expression remaining calm as he looked directly at Atlas. ”We have been watching you fight that woman for a while, but we do not know what your name is. What is your name, Human?”

Atlas narrowed his eyes for a moment before dispersing the Flames of Nothingness around his body. He could already tell that keeping the flames active was meaningless in front of these three existences, and there was no reason to waste his energy when they were not currently attacking him.

’Even if I could stand in front of that woman, these three are on another level. I can’t even feel a single ounce of strength from them and...what’s this strange feeling they are giving off?’ Atlas continued observing them carefully, because the complete absence of pressure coming from their bodies was more unusual than overwhelming pressure would have been.

For a moment, Atlas considered not revealing his name. However, even if he refused to reveal it, they would eventually come to know about it, especially considering that they belonged to an organization with influence spread throughout the Primartia Galaxy.

There was nothing particularly useful about hiding his identity from them, and more importantly, Atlas already had a question he wanted to ask. After a brief moment of thought, he finally spoke calmly, ”My name is Atlas Mariorett. I would also like to know your names as well, but before that, I have a question.”

The captain tilted his head slightly and spoke calmly. ”Go ahead.”

”You could have caught her and the ship, couldn’t you? Why did you not do it?”