Chapter 241: That Reaction [Super gift Bonus]

"And then..."

His smile widened slightly.

"...the others present here."

The moment he finished his sentence, his right hand moved again, the same hand with which he had just collapsed Atlas’s entire Glacial Singularity. Atlas’s eyes widened when he saw the movement, because this was far faster than anything ’Azarion’ had displayed during their previous exchanges. The speed was so sudden that Atlas’s eyes could barely follow it, and before he could properly understand what was happening, his instincts flared throughout his entire body.

’What?!’

Mu-Ho activated immediately. Atlas’s figure began to disappear from its position, but the timing was still too late. Just as his body was about to vanish completely, the man’s hand transformed into a claw and tore through his chest.

SHHHK!

Atlas disappeared from the battlefield and reappeared far away, his body staggering slightly in midair. A massive claw wound stretched across his chest, tearing through his attire as blood continuously dripped from the injury. Atlas lowered his head and looked at the wound while a mouthful of blood escaped his mouth.

"Khuk!"

His expression immediately changed when he realized something was wrong. The wound wasn’t closing. His Regenerative Hide should have already begun repairing the damage, especially after everything his body had endured during his fight against Azarion, yet the torn flesh remained open as if his regeneration had simply stopped working.

’What the hell is happe—!’

Before Atlas could finish the thought, the same voice came from Azarion’s body.

"I have been observing you fight Azarion for quite a bit. I also watched the fight he had against that girl named Velmira, and from those battles, I figured out one thing." Atlas raised his head toward him, but before he could ask what he meant, a sharp snapping sound suddenly echoed directly in his ears.

SNAP!

The next instant, Atlas’s entire body convulsed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

His face snapped upward as an unbearable pain erupted from inside his body. Atlas instinctively tried to move, but his body refused to respond properly because something inside him had suddenly begun clashing against his Null. He could sense the power clearly, even though he couldn’t understand how it had entered his body or why it was suddenly reacting so violently.

It was Null.

His own Null was violently clashing against two different forces.

One of them was familiar. It was the Mixed Null he had already encountered in Azarion’s body, but the other was something Atlas had never felt before. He couldn’t identify its nature, yet it was able to remain inside his body without being erased by his Null.

No, it wasn’t merely resisting.

It was actually countering it.

Atlas’s eyes widened as he tried to understand what was happening, but the pain made it difficult to even think. His Null continued colliding against both forces, and every clash sent another wave of pain through his body. He could feel the reaction spreading through him, yet he couldn’t locate its exact source because the strange force seemed to be moving through his body and soul simultaneously.

"I observed that the power you wield happens to be a completely different tier of power," the man continued calmly. "So I decided to use another power known as Soul Force to counter your power."

Atlas gritted his teeth when he heard the name.

’Soul Force...?’

"Along with that, I injected the remaining part of that strange substance inside this body into you for extra safety." Atlas’s pupils contracted.

That...made sense.

The claw hadn’t simply injured him. Something had been inserted into his body through that attack, and the moment it had come into contact with his Null, the reaction had begun. The strange Mixed Null alone had never caused this kind of reaction, which meant the additional force was what had changed everything.

The man slowly raised his right hand toward his own face. His fingers touched the organic armor stitched across his monstrous features before he began brushing the material away. The organic layer peeled from his face, starting from his chin and continuing upward until the entire structure had been removed.

The monstrous appearance disappeared.

Purple hair extended from behind his head as a completely different face was revealed beneath the organic armor. His features were unearthly handsome, completely different from the monstrous appearance Azarion had been forced into, and his expression remained calm throughout the entire process as though revealing his true appearance was more important than the injured Atlas standing before him.

The rulers watching from a distance immediately noticed the change.

Solaris’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the unfamiliar man.

Eliana remained silent, but her expression became more serious as she studied the individual standing inside Azarion’s body. Thorsin also focused on him carefully, while Zaakrax’s amused expression disappeared for a moment as he observed the transformation.

Even the Ancient Pope remained completely still, his attention now focused entirely on the individual who had taken control of the Human King’s body. None of them had expected another consciousness to emerge from inside Azarion.

Meanwhile, Atlas continued struggling against the pain, "Now that I have inserted both forces inside your body and soul, that strange power you wield, which has the property to erase anything, will clash against both of them."

The man looked toward Atlas as he continued explaining, his tone remaining completely relaxed despite the situation developing around them, "And the result?"

He paused for a moment before his lips curved upward.

"That reaction."

Atlas’s breathing became heavier as he tried to maintain control over his body. The pain was already becoming difficult to endure, but the explanation made him even more uneasy because he could now understand that the reaction wasn’t something happening by accident. The man had deliberately created this situation after studying Atlas’s abilities.

"Your own power will continue trying to erase those forces, but because they are already inside your body, the conflict will spread through everything connected to them." He spoke without urgency, as though explaining something he had already calculated long before this moment.

"Your muscles, organs, nerves, cells, and even your brain will eventually be affected."

Atlas’s expression became increasingly serious and shocked.

He finally understood why his Regenerative Hide had failed. His regeneration could repair damage caused by an external attack, but this was fundamentally different. The destruction wasn’t simply being inflicted upon his body by another force. His own Null was constantly reacting to the foreign forces inside him, and that reaction itself was becoming the source of the damage.

The man continued watching him.

"Normally, your power would simply erase anything that attempted to interfere with you from the outside. That is what makes your ability so troublesome. But I realized there was no reason for me to attack you from the outside."

His eyes narrowed slightly, "I only needed to make your own power fight something that had already entered you."

Atlas’s eyes widened further.

The man then gave him the final explanation.

"That reaction will ruin your entire body, leaving the Soul for me to harvest." This new unknown enemy had simply turned the nature of his own power against him.

Now the question going through every powerhouse floating there was: ’Who in the hell is this...man?’