Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

As the Dragon Emperor looked at the four of them with the vertical slits in his eyes, he quietly observed them while his own vision showed something completely different.

’So they are this weak? I thought Mostleon would at least be equal to me...he was my equal when we were still at Ex-rank...sigh.’

What he saw wasn’t their outward appearance but an aura similar to a thermal projection surrounding each of them. From whatever method he used to measure their strength, he arrived at that conclusion without much thought.

A faint grin slowly formed on his face after seeing it.

Mostleon noticed that grin immediately. He narrowed his eyes before speaking in a calm voice.

"Why did you come so late? You should have been here half an hour earlier."

Hearing that, the Dragon Emperor’s grin slowly disappeared as he let out a sigh.

"You’re right, I am late, but that’s because of that brat son of mine. He keeps saying he wants to get married, and he wants it to happen as soon as possible as well. Hah...it’s tiring dealing with him, you know?"

The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions of everyone present changed slightly. Even Mostleon’s forehead showed faint bulging veins. They all understood that he wasn’t simply talking about his son.

He was deliberately reminding them that while he could still freely interact with his own people and even worry about ordinary matters like his son’s marriage, they couldn’t. Ever since they became bound by those laws, they had lost that freedom, and his words were simply another way of pointing that out.

The Dragon Emperor didn’t seem to care about their reactions. He calmly walked toward the fallen leaf before slowly extending his right hand toward it. The moment he did, the leaf resting on the ground rose into the air on its own. There wasn’t the slightest fluctuation of Spirit Energy around it, nor did anything appear to pull it upward, yet it quietly floated through the air before stopping in the Dragon Emperor’s outstretched hand.

The Dragon Emperor slowly opened his palm. The moment he did, the other three immediately noticed something unusual. The color of the leaf began to change...no, it didn’t simply change once. It continuously shifted from one color to another without stopping. Seeing that strange sight, all of their eyes widened as shock became clearly visible on their faces.

As the leaf continued changing colors one after another, the Dragon Emperor spoke again, his heavy voice spreading calmly through the surroundings.

"This leaf from the Tree of Astraya represents something while it remains in its normal purple color...correct? It means that an inevitable incident, one that is going to take place in the near future, has already been confirmed and cannot be avoided."

After hearing his words, Aurelis gave a slow nod.

"Y-yes...we all know that."

The Dragon Emperor looked at her before the corners of his lips slowly curled upward again.

"Then you also understand that if a fallen leaf from the Tree of Astraya changes its color even once, it means that inevitable incident is no longer inevitable...correct?"

The other three frowned after hearing that question. Everything he had just said was something they already knew, it was one of the most basic principles regarding the fallen leaves of the Tree of Astraya, yet the way he asked it made them feel that he wasn’t simply repeating common knowledge. It sounded as though he was gradually leading them toward another conclusion by connecting each statement together.

Mostleon understood that much before the others. He continued staring at the leaf while thinking quietly.

’He is connecting these facts to something else...but what is it? Why can’t I see where this is leading?’

While Mostleon and the others remained occupied with their own thoughts, the Dragon Emperor looked at the leaf resting in his hand before speaking once again.

"Now...what do you think happens when a fallen leaf continues changing into many different colors without stopping?"

The moment he asked that question, all four frowned. For a brief moment, they even wondered whether the Dragon Emperor was asking something meaningless, because the very situation they were looking at was exactly that. The fallen leaf was continuously changing its color without stopping. If the answer had been obvious, they would have already understood it themselves.

They thought about it carefully, trying to connect everything they knew about the Tree of Astraya with what they were seeing before them.

However...no answer came.

None of them knew.

Seeing the silence that followed, the Dragon Emperor let out a loud laugh.

"Hahaha...all of you received the knowledge related to the Tree of Astraya and this place only after reaching this stage of Cultivation, yet none of you know something this simple? Then let me answer it for you...although all of you already know why you don’t."

The smile on his face remained as he continued.

"It’s because the four of you are bound by those troublesome Laws. Those very Laws that prevent you from interfering with Eliomor aren’t only restricting your actions or your physical bodies...they’re also making sure that the important knowledge related to this Tree never reaches you. Hahahaha!"

The more they listened to him, the more their expressions changed. They had already been suppressing their irritation after he deliberately brought up his son and his marriage earlier, fully aware that they would understand the hidden meaning behind those words. Now he was openly mocking them instead.

Yet...none of them could deny what he was saying.

The more they thought about it, the more everything connected together. The missing knowledge, the restrictions placed upon them, and the fact that none of them knew the answer despite standing before the Tree of Astraya itself...it all pointed toward the same conclusion.

Mostleon quietly stared at the Dragon Emperor while the veins around his forehead became more visible.

’He reached this stage decades after us...yet his knowledge and even his strength have already surpassed all four of us combined.’

This alone showed that Mostleon remained calm even after being provoked. Rather than letting his emotions take over, he continued thinking about everything the Dragon Emperor had said and tried to connect each piece together. For the moment, however, that wasn’t the important matter as the Dragon Emperor began speaking again.

"You four are restricted by those Laws, but I am not. There is no need for me to explain why because all of you already know the reason, so I won’t waste time on that. Now, I would have liked to explain in detail why this leaf is continuously changing its color...but I won’t."

After a brief pause, he continued.

"There are two reasons for that, the first is simple - The four of you are not permitted to receive that knowledge. Even if I explained everything from the beginning, none of my words would reach your ears, those Laws would stop you from hearing them."

Each of them reacted differently after hearing that. Yulia quietly pressed her lips together as irritation appeared on her face. Aurelis clenched her teeth without saying anything, while Garthax remained as he was with his arms crossed. Mostleon simply took a long breath before letting out a sigh. They all understood that resisting those Laws was impossible, and whether they liked it or not...they had no choice but to accept that reality.

The Dragon Emperor waited until the silence settled before speaking again.

"The second reason is that even I don’t completely understand this phenomenon despite receiving that knowledge while not bound by those Laws, There is no record of something like this ever happening before, but...I do have a surface-level understanding of what is causing it."

The moment he finished speaking, Mostleon, Aurelis, Yulia, and Garthax all narrowed their eyes slightly. After a short moment, Mostleon asked calmly,

"Oh?...Then what could be causing it?"

The Dragon Emperor looked at him for a few moments before slowly raising his left hand. As he did, a small black sphere appeared above his palm out of thin air. There wasn’t the slightest fluctuation of Spirit around it, as though it had simply appeared there naturally.

Without another word, he lightly tossed the sphere toward Aurelis.

She caught it effortlessly with her right hand and immediately began examining it. The sphere appeared completely ordinary. Its surface was smooth, its color was pitch black, and apart from feeling slightly heavier than expected, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about it.

She looked back toward the Dragon Emperor, and before she could ask anything, he spoke.

"I will Explain the cause but before that you have to see this..."

"Use your Axon Spirit Eyes and direct your perception into that sphere. It’s a Relic created by combining several Highest-Grade Relics together...the only Relic of its kind in all of Eliomor."

Aurelis didn’t question him. She didn’t even react to the revelation that the sphere had been created from multiple Highest-Grade Relics or that it was the only one in existence. Her curiosity had already overtaken every other thought, and she immediately followed his instructions.

Her eyes changed once again as the familiar streaks of lightning appeared around them. She activated the Axon Spirit Eyes before directing her perception into the black sphere.

The moment her perception entered it, she saw...a figure.

The figure was completely black.

She couldn’t make out its appearance because its body continuously glitched, making it impossible to see any details. Even so, she continued observing until her perception gradually expanded, allowing her to see the figure’s surroundings.

The instant she saw the complete scene from above; her eyes widened in horror.

"W-What is this...A-A war?...B-But...it’s against a single...person?!"

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