Chapter 254: Event Absorption [Super gift Bonus]

Atlas remained standing inside the stopped flow of time, completely unconscious yet strangely standing as the second Inherent Inscription began becoming a part of him.

...

..

An unknown amount of time passed.

Although time for the world was stopped, for Atlas and his body it was still moving. His body continued undergoing the assimilation process while his consciousness remained unconscious, allowing the information related to the second Inherent Inscription to slowly settle inside his mind.

If the passage of time within this stopped state were compared to the outside world’s normal flow, an entire year had already passed while not even a single moment had passed for anyone else.

Yes...a whole year had passed.

But the assimilation didn’t stop after one year. The amount of information Atlas was receiving seemed to have no end, and as his body continued adapting to the Flames of Nothingness, another decade passed. Then another decade followed, and eventually the third decade also came to an end while Atlas remained standing in exactly the same position, completely unaware of everything happening around him.

When the comparable fourth decade arrived, something finally began to change.

The Flames of Nothingness surrounding Atlas started becoming weaker in intensity as they slowly seeped into his body. Instead of remaining around him as an external flame, they were gradually being assimilated into his very being, becoming a permanent part of his existence.

The process was extremely slow, but it continued without interruption as every part of the black flame was gradually absorbed.

The fifth decade passed in the same manner.

By then, the flames around Atlas had almost completely diminished, with only a thin layer of black fire remaining around his body. The process continued until the sixth decade arrived, and by that point, the Flames of Nothingness were no longer visible around Atlas at all. For a moment, nothing appeared to have changed, but then a tiny symbol resembling a flame suddenly appeared on his forehead.

The symbol was pure black.

It remained there for only a few moments before slowly disappearing into Atlas’s forehead, leaving no mark behind. That was also the final stage of the assimilation, because after that moment, there was no longer any external manifestation of the Flames of Nothingness around his body.

Another decade passed.

That was the last decade Atlas remained unconscious.

His eyes slowly opened as though something new had been driven deeply into his very existence. There was no confusion in his gaze when he looked around, because the enormous amount of information that had entered his mind during the assimilation had already been completely understood and organized within his consciousness.

’Hmm... Mu-En (無炎) isn’t an Active Vector of the Inscription.’ Atlas slowly lifted his right hand as he examined it, ’It is directly the Inscription itself. It doesn’t have techniques or abilities like the Active Vector, which is the core ability of the 1st Inherent Inscription.’

His hand initially felt slightly rigid after remaining motionless for such a long period of time, but after Atlas moved his fingers and shook his hand a few times, the stiffness quickly disappeared. The next moment, the Flames of Nothingness appeared around his hand, completely covering it in black flames without causing him even the slightest pain.

Reiden immediately reacted.

The flame-like mark on his right hand glowed noticeably brighter, almost as if it had been waiting for this exact moment. Atlas looked at Reiden for a few seconds before finally understanding why it had seemed so delighted when Mu-En first appeared.

"Now I understand why you were so delighted. It makes you feel complete. The more I unlock my Bloodline, the more complete you become because you were created from that Bloodline, am I right?" Reiden immediately responded by glowing twice as brightly beneath the black flame.

Atlas nodded slightly as he looked at his hand. Just like his Null, the Flames of Nothingness didn’t harm him, and the fact that Reiden also remained completely unharmed made the connection even more obvious to him. It seemed that anything originating directly from his Bloodline could not harm the existence from which it had originated.

’The Bloodline is the cause, If Null and this flame originated from the Bloodline itself, then how can they even harm the origin?’ That was the best conclusion Atlas could reach for now, and there was no reason for him to spend more time thinking about something that seemed so obvious. He shifted his attention toward the Codex instead and looked at the new information that had appeared at the very bottom of the page.

[Note: User has permanently unlocked and assimilated the Flames of Nothingness, progress of the Inherent Inscriptions has advanced to Tsugi-Kokuin (次刻印)]

[Progress: Tsugi-Kokuin (次刻印) — First Inscription]

[A/N: First Inherent Inscription = "Zero Inscription" (It is the name of that Inscription), 2nd Inherent Inscription = "First Inscription", Please do not confuse yourself with this.]

Atlas stared at the Note section and then at the Progress section for a moment. The terminology had been slightly confusing at first, but after reading the explanation again, he finally understood what the Codex was trying to convey.

"Hmm, alright. I get it now." The moment Atlas finished speaking, the Codex suddenly closed by itself. Atlas was startled when it disappeared into his chest without him doing anything, but before he could question what had just happened, the stopped time suddenly resumed.

The world regained its colours in an instant.

The clouds above began moving again, and a horrifying thunderbolt that had been frozen in place came crashing down toward the man who was trying to fuse the two forces together. Atlas was shocked to his core when he saw the scene because the sequence of events happened so quickly that he was unable to maintain his usual calm expression.

Before he could even understand what was happening, Solaris’s voice reached him from nearby, "I will be taking Seraphiel away from this battlefield. Talk with her when she wakes up in Solara." Atlas looked toward Solaris and nodded. She returned the gesture as if she already understood that Atlas had something he needed to discuss with Seraphiel once she regained consciousness.

Without wasting any more time, Solaris turned toward Seraphiel and immediately disappeared from her position, taking Seraphiel away from the battlefield.

Atlas’s attention quickly returned to the battlefield.

The Dragon Emperor, who had been about to say something when time stopped, was now staring toward the unknown man. The man was completely surrounded by the massive thunderbolt, and his body was being destroyed under its pressure as his muscles tore apart and his bones began breaking down into dust.

Yet despite the terrifying attack, he continued forcing the two abilities together with everything he had. Zaakrax narrowed his eyes as he watched the scene, "The Law of Thunder is directly interfering? Then he must be trying something ridiculous."

Atlas felt a jolt of shock when he heard those words, ’Those Laws that entered me just moments ago? They’re interfering with that man’s scheme? What the fuck is he even doing?’

His eyes immediately shifted toward the unknown man, but the person who had been relentlessly charging toward him was now floating several kilometers away. Even from that distance, Atlas could clearly feel the raw power contained within the massive lightning surrounding the unknown man, and the intensity was so great that simply sensing it made the surrounding atmosphere feel heavy.

Then the man’s laughter suddenly echoed across the battlefield.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! I KNEW YOU WOULD INTERFERE IF I TRIED TO ACCOMPLISH THIS! BUT UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, I AM ALREADY DONE!" His voice traveled across the battlefield as he continued laughing inside the thunder. The moment everyone heard that he was already done, their expressions changed, some showing shock while others became more curious about what exactly he had managed to accomplish.

They didn’t have to wait long.

The unknown man suddenly did something that should have been impossible, and although his next words were spoken in a much lower voice than before, everyone present heard them clearly.

The unknown man’s lips moved.

"Ultimate Ability ─ Event Absorption."

The very next moment, the massive thunder disappeared.

- - -

[A/N: This is where the super gift Bonuses end as it is the 12th super gift Bonus, ten for the Golden Gachapon and two for the magic castle as promised in the Synopsis.

Many thanks to BoqorLiban and Boqor_Boqor(Both are the same person btw)!!]