Chapter 336: Decisive

Meanwhile...

In a completely different place, the same mysterious location where Trelisa had previously met Demious Armageddeon, the King of the Weimbrons, Demious sat on his throne with an indifferent expression. His gaze remained fixed on the person bowing before him, and neither of them spoke for a long moment.

The silence continued until Demious finally decided to break it, "Do you understand now, Trelisa? How pathetically you would have died at the hands of that Human?"

The person bowing before him slowly lifted her head, her pupils still trembling as she recalled what had happened. "Y-Yes, I understand, Your Majesty."

It was none other than Trelisa, the same individual whose existence Atlas had erased only moments earlier, yet... somehow, she was still alive and standing before the King. Her survival, however, had done nothing to erase the fear she had experienced during her confrontation with Atlas.

"You understand that the Laws don’t work on him, nor do any conventional abilities," Demious continued as he slowly raised his hand, causing a wine glass to appear in his grasp. He took a sip before continuing, "Even that Memory Illusion wouldn’t have worked without my involvement."

Trelisa nodded, understanding the matter better than anyone else because she had witnessed the entire confrontation herself, ’H-How can a Human be th-that strong?’

The question continued troubling her as she recalled how easily Atlas had overcome her abilities. Even the Laws she had used to protect herself had failed to stop him, and the difference between their strength had become painfully clear.

Before she could dwell on those thoughts any further, Demious spoke again, "From everything we’ve seen, we can indeed conclude that he is a priceless individual. If he were one of us, our chances against the Conclave would be far greater than they currently are."

Trelisa paused briefly before nodding in agreement. "Y-Yes, Your Majesty. That was exactly why I suggested capturing him. Even some Mature Worlds don’t compare to the kind of existence he is." Demious acknowledged her words with a slight nod, accepting that her assessment was correct. The Human was an anomaly unlike anything they had encountered before, and his abilities made him far more valuable than an entire Mature World.

"Indeed, that is a fact. In all my millions of years of existence, I have never encountered a being who possesses abilities capable of defying the Laws." Trelisa swallowed as she lowered her head, remembering the moment she had used a barrier created through the Law of Time itself, only for it to crack as easily as glass.

Even after that, she had attempted to protect herself by forming several additional layers of barriers using other Laws, but they had disintegrated into Nothingness before they could even fully form. The memory still frightened her, as she had never imagined witnessing something capable of rendering so many Laws ineffective.

’E-Even we Sovereigns are no exception to the effects of the Laws.’ After a brief pause, Trelisa lifted her head and asked, "T-Then, Your Majesty, what should we do about him? Should we still pursue him?"

Demious listened without responding immediately, the wine glass in his hand vanished the next moment. He rested his left arm on the throne’s armrest and began tapping his finger against it repeatedly, appearing to consider the situation carefully.

Only after a short silence did he finally answer, "No, we will not pursue that Human. There is a better plan than that." A small grin formed on Demious’s lips, and Trelisa’s eyes widened when she noticed it.

’M-My King is smiling for the first time in thousands of years!’ Her fear gradually subsided as she watched his expression, and she began to believe that he had already devised a plan that would resolve their current problem.

’H-He must have a decisive plan...’

"What we will do is..." Demious began explaining his plan, and Trelisa listened carefully to every word. As the explanation continued, her eyes widened further before her expression slowly changed into one of wonder and admiration.

By the time he finished, a smile had appeared on her face as she thought, ’Truly, my King is the most decisive-minded and...the strongest. Fufu~’

After allowing her a moment to process everything, Demious shifted the conversation toward their next course of action. "Now it is time for all of you Elite ones to act according to the plan. We will bring down the Conclave sooner than previously planned, using that anomalous Human." His voice remained composed, but his words made it clear that the plan would soon move into its next stage.

Trelisa immediately nodded, "We will not disappoint you this time, my King."

With those words, she vanished from the throne room, leaving Demious alone. The King turned his gaze toward the city surrounding his massive castle, his expression returning to its usual indifference as he looked out over the buildings below.

...

On the other hand, Atlas remained floating in the same position where he had been after the battle. His Astral Domain had already been retracted into his body, leaving the surrounding space empty once more, and he looked around briefly before turning his attention inward.

’Hmm, it’s time to break through to the next rank. I wonder if I can keep the Domain even after the breakthrough. It is really handy.’ The possibility interested him, although he knew he would only find out after completing the process.

He then shifted his thoughts toward the battle he had just finished. ’I think I also got some spoils from killing her. Maybe my Bloodline increased again?’ He could only speculate for now because he would need to enter a Ruin to open the Codex and check whether anything had changed.

Since he had already decided to break through, there was little reason to interrupt his preparations just to satisfy his curiosity.

’For now, I should focus on breaking through to the next rank.’

With that, Atlas settled into the empty space and created another separate space around himself. He had already observed that only those Avatars had managed to perceive what was happening inside his separate space, which suggested that ordinary methods of perception would not easily reach him there.

Once the space had been established, he closed his eyes and began preparing for the breakthrough.

He immediately made the necessary preparations, altering the logic of pain within his body before absorbing the resulting event to avoid experiencing the unimaginable pain that would accompany the destruction of his own core.

However, he wasn’t entirely confident that the alteration would protect him from every consequence of the process, ’I think even after altering the logic of pain, breaking a core will still cost me something severe.’

Atlas considered the possibilities, wondering whether the consequences might affect his consciousness or soul instead. It was also possible that the process could bypass his alteration of pain entirely, leaving him to experience effects that his ability couldn’t prevent.

He couldn’t be certain without attempting the breakthrough himself, and no amount of speculation would provide him with a definite answer, ’Only one way to know. Well, even if I knew, I would still need to do it.’

With that final thought, Atlas began breaking his Astral Core.