Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Atlas turned towards Dravenson at that question while Seraphiel also looked at her father, her brows slowly furrowing as she thought, ’Y-Yes...Mr. Atlas was only A-rank back then, how did he possess that same energy?’ Her right hand slowly lifted towards her lips as another possibility surfaced in her mind, ’D-does that mean...he really is somehow connected to that Monster?’

Even after hearing Atlas deny it earlier, Dravenson’s question made that uncertainty return once again because she herself couldn’t explain how that same unknown energy had existed before he even reached S-rank.

Dravenson, however, remained silent for a few moments instead of asking anything further. His eyes stayed fixed on Atlas as countless thoughts connected one after another inside his mind. Even if he accepted that Atlas had awakened an abnormal Unique Ability, it still failed to explain everything.

The same energy had been present inside the bark recovered from the forest, it had been sensed from the Monster above the Palace and it had also existed around Atlas long before an Explorer could even awaken a Unique Ability. No matter how he connected those pieces together, one contradiction always remained, making him narrow his eyes before finally speaking again.

"So your explanation is that this unknown energy is your Unique Ability?" Dravenson asked in a calm voice.

Atlas nodded once before replying without changing his expression, "It is."

Dravenson continued looking at him before asking again, "Then explain one thing to me, If this truly is your Unique Ability, why did that exact same energy exist inside the bark Kaelion recovered from the forest? Why did it exist around the corpses of those Angels and why did I sense that same presence from the Monster above the Palace? These are completely unrelated things, yet they all possess the same unknown energy. No matter how I look at it, I cannot call that a coincidence."

After hearing that, Seraphiel also turned towards Atlas. She no longer looked frightened like before, instead confusion filled her eyes because even after Atlas denied being connected to that Monster, this question still remained unanswered. She herself couldn’t think of any explanation that connected all these incidents together.

Atlas remained silent for several moments before finally speaking in his usual detached tone. "That is a reasonable question...but the answer is that I don’t know either."

Both Dravenson and Seraphiel slightly widened their eyes as Atlas continued before either of them could interrupt him.

"As I said earlier I also encountered a Monster carrying this same energy before arriving at Celestara, I don’t know what that creature was, I don’t know why it possessed the same energy as me and frankly...I have no interest in finding out."

"Whatever connection exists between them has nothing to do with me, but I do know one thing. Since this misunderstanding has already reached this stage, I can at least prove that your conclusion about me is wrong."

As Atlas finished speaking, he slowly raised his left hand towards the finger-cut glove covering his right hand, preparing to reveal the only evidence he was willing to show.

The moment Atlas pulled the finger-cut glove away from his right hand, Dravenson’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked at the strange tattoo-like black markings spreading across the back of his hand.

He couldn’t understand what Atlas was trying to show by revealing nothing more than those unusual markings, but before he could ask anything Atlas turned towards Seraphiel instead and spoke, "Lady Seraphiel, have you perhaps forgotten about the Scythe Veloran Azatelth forged for me?"

Only then did it click inside Seraphiel’s mind. So many incidents had happened after Atlas came to their Household that day that she had completely forgotten about the Legendary Scythe. From Atlas’s departure, her arrival at Celestara and finally yesterday’s incident above the Palace, she never had the chance to think about it again.

Now that Atlas mentioned it, another detail immediately caught her attention as her eyes instinctively swept across his body. Even that day...he hadn’t been carrying the Scythe.

Her eyes widened little by little as countless thoughts surfaced inside her mind. That weapon was personally forged by Veloran Azatelth himself, it wasn’t an ordinary weapon that could simply disappear somewhere.

Did he lose it? Was it destroyed? Or had something happened inside that Abyss-Rank Ruin after she left? While those questions continued to appear one after another, Atlas finally broke the silence while Dravenson remained confused, having no idea what Scythe the two of them were talking about.

"The day I became A-rank inside the Abyss-Rank Ruin, that Scythe fused into my right hand and remained there ever since." Atlas spoke calmly before lifting his right hand slightly. "After that...this energy began appearing whenever I used it. As for why that happened, I don’t know."

He stopped there without adding another explanation. Atlas had no intention of mentioning Bloodlines, Traits or other terms written in the Codex. Those concepts didn’t even exist within Eliomor’s understanding, so there was no reason to even speak about them. Letting them believe this strange phenomenon originated from the merged weapon was more than enough to remove the misunderstanding surrounding him.

Internally Atlas remained calm as he thought, ’This should be enough, those massacres outside the city have already been investigated and this Noble managed to connect that energy to me, which means the Angelic Royals must have investigated those corpses as well. Using Null openly from now on would only create more unnecessary misunderstandings.’

Dravenson remained silent for a long moment as he replayed every piece of information inside his mind. The bark, the Monster, the unknown energy, the merged Legendary Weapon and Atlas’s explanation...every piece connected better than before, yet one contradiction still refused to disappear.

On the other hand Seraphiel also remained quiet, but unlike Dravenson she felt the uneasiness inside her heart gradually disappear. Atlas’s explanation had answered the biggest doubt she had ever since yesterday.

Finally, Dravenson broke the silence.

"I understand your explanation, but one contradiction still remains." He looked directly at Atlas before continuing. "Even if I accept that the Scythe somehow merged with your hand and became the source of this unknown energy...Unique Abilities are awakened only after reaching S-rank. You possessed this energy while you were still A-rank, so your explanation still doesn’t answer that part."

Atlas let out a quiet sigh after hearing that. He had already expected the conversation to reach this point and understood that Dravenson wouldn’t stop questioning him unless every contradiction in his mind was answered. After remaining silent for a brief moment, Atlas finally spoke again.

"I already told you everything I know, Whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with me anymore, does it?"

He paused briefly before his gaze met Dravenson’s directly.

"Rather than questioning me, have you even thought about your own conclusion?"

"If I really were that Monster...how exactly would I possess an Unique Ability?"

The room instantly fell silent.

Atlas continued in the same detached tone.

"From your own words, that Monster carried the same energy, If that alone is enough to make me the Monster...then explain how a Monster awakened an Unique Ability."

"I’ve never heard such a thing...Neither have you."

Dravenson’s pupils shrank slightly.

That single question immediately exposed the biggest flaw in his own assumption. From the beginning he had only connected the identical energy and built everything else around that conclusion, but he had never questioned whether that conclusion itself could exist. If Monsters could not awaken Unique Abilities, then Atlas possessing one already contradicted the very foundation of that theory.

Atlas leaned back slightly before speaking one last time.

"I’ve already explained enough, I don’t care whether you still hold onto that assumption or not, But if you continue forcing your flawed conclusion onto me after this...then I won’t care about the contract or anything else anymore."

"I’ll simply kill whoever comes after me."

His detached expression never changed, yet those calm words made Dravenson feel a chill pass through his body. For the first time since Atlas entered the Villa, he couldn’t immediately find anything to refute.

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