Chapter 385: Remove Rule

With that last sentence, Atlas gave Oriendar one final look before preparing to leave the dimension. Oriendar seemed to understand his intention, as he simply nodded without attempting to stop him.

Having received the acknowledgment, Atlas activated the connection he had established earlier through his Logic Alteration ability. In the next instant, his figure disappeared from the dimension, leaving the Seven Regents and Oriendar behind.

Atlas reappeared at the exact position where he had been sitting in the Primartia Library. He had already established a connection to these coordinates by altering the logic of space itself, allowing him to return directly without having to travel through the intervening distance.

Consequently, the transfer took place almost immediately, and he found himself back in the familiar surroundings of the library. However, the moment he arrived, he noticed that two figures were now occupying the seat he had left behind.

On closer inspection, Atlas recognized one of them as the cat-girl he had encountered earlier. Her cat ears and tail made her easy to identify, while the other figure was a man who appeared younger and shorter than Atlas himself.

Several books were spread across the large wooden table in front of them, suggesting that the two had settled down to read while he was away. Atlas stared at them from behind for a moment before narrowing his eyes and speaking in an indifferent tone.

"Why are you occupying my seat?" The moment they heard his voice, both figures turned around and looked at him. The cat-girl’s reaction was immediate, as she jumped so abruptly that her ears stood straight up, and she let out a startled cry.

"Nyaaaaa!!!!" Meanwhile, the man beside her merely stared at Atlas, seemingly taking his time to process the sudden appearance of someone who had been absent only moments earlier.

Atlas frowned as he examined the man’s face more carefully. He possessed rather handsome features, and his appearance seemed somewhat unusual compared to that of an ordinary human. However, what caught Atlas’s attention most was the single horn protruding from the center of his forehead, which immediately reminded him of Dravia.

He couldn’t help but wonder whether the man belonged to the same race as her.

’Is he from the Oni race?’ Atlas questioned inwardly, continuing to observe the stranger for another moment. Before he could draw any further conclusions, the man stood up and walked toward him with an expression that suggested he had no intention of backing down.

Despite being shorter, he carried himself with considerable confidence, stopping in front of Atlas and raising his chin to meet his gaze.

"So what if we did?" the man replied, his voice slightly rough and cold. "We saw an empty seat with the books we wanted to read, so we obviously sat there. This is the Primartia Library, and according to its rules, we can sit anywhere we want."

His tone carried a subtle attempt at intimidation, as though he expected Atlas to back down simply because he had presented his argument with confidence. Atlas, however, remained unmoved, finding it rather amusing that the man was trying to intimidate him while having to look upward just to meet his face.

Atlas frowned slightly before answering. "The rules also state that if I place a certain item on my seat, it remains mine even when I’m not present." He paused, then raised his fingers and snapped them, causing a small piece of paper to appear in his hand.

At first glance, it seemed completely blank, but when Atlas flipped it around, his name was clearly written on the opposite side.

"I remember placing this on my seat just a few minutes ago. How did it disappear from there?" Atlas asked, looking at the paper with a thoughtful expression before shifting his gaze back toward the man. He deliberately maintained his calm demeanor, as though he were genuinely puzzled by the situation.

The man, on the other hand, responded with an amused expression as a small grin formed on his face. "Where is your proof that you placed anything on the seat? I didn’t see that when I came here." The man spoke as though he had already found a flaw in Atlas’s argument, apparently pleased with the way he had turned the conversation around.

Atlas could clearly tell that the stranger was deliberately playing in circles, using the absence of evidence to deny his claim while conveniently ignoring the possibility that the same reasoning could be applied to his own actions. Rather than arguing further, Atlas decided to let the man experience the consequences of his own logic.

"Is that so?" Atlas asked, a faint grin appearing on his face. "Then I suppose you won’t mind emptying the seat if the books suddenly disappear, will you?" The moment he finished speaking, the man’s expression changed, and he immediately turned toward the section of the wooden table where the books had been spread out.

A faint glow appeared across that portion of the table, and before either of the two could react, every book resting on it vanished completely.

The man turned back toward Atlas almost instantly, his expression twisting with anger as he clenched his teeth. "You!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing gaze at Atlas as though the disappearance of the books were sufficient proof of his involvement.

Atlas merely grinned at him, apparently enjoying how quickly the man had fallen into the same situation he had tried to create for someone else. "Do you have any proof that I was the one who made the books disappear?" he asked calmly.

The man’s eyes widened as he finally understood what Atlas was doing.

The human standing before him had simply returned his own argument, refusing to accept an accusation without evidence just as he had done moments earlier. His teeth remained clenched, and his hands gradually curled into fists, but he couldn’t immediately come up with a response that wouldn’t expose the contradiction in his earlier reasoning.

Atlas, meanwhile, had already lost interest in prolonging the discussion.

"Now, I hope you leave my seat alone," Atlas stated coldly before stepping forward. He had no intention of wasting more time arguing over something so trivial, especially when he had other matters to attend to in the library.

However, just as he was about to pass the man, he suddenly felt a hand blocking his movement. Atlas stopped in place, and his eyes immediately turned bloodshot as he slowly shifted his gaze toward the person standing beside him.

It was the same man who had just lost their argument.

"Human, let’s have a duel," the man declared, his cold voice echoing throughout the library. "If I win, you will lick my shoes, and if you win...I will do the same." His words carried an unmistakable challenge, and the moment they reached the surrounding readers, the entire library fell silent.

The conversations that had been taking place nearby stopped, while several people turned their attention toward the two figures standing beside the wooden table.

Atlas looked at the man with pure, unfiltered rage boiling beneath his expression. If not for his second self repeatedly reminding him of the library’s rules, only Atlas and the cat-girl knew what might already have happened to the man.

He had tolerated the stranger’s childish arguments because the matter itself wasn’t worth his attention, but the man’s decision to physically block his path and issue such a humiliating challenge was beginning to test his patience.

Nevertheless, Atlas forced himself to remain still and suppressed the killing intent that threatened to escape.

He was familiar with the concept of a duel in the Primartia Conclave. According to the book titled The Conclave, duels were recognized combat encounters between Conclave members, conducted under a set of established rules, including the prohibition against killing one’s opponent.

The details could vary depending on the circumstances and the rules accepted by those involved, but a duel was not simply an excuse to attack another member without consequences. Having already read about the system, Atlas understood what the man was proposing and what accepting the challenge would entail.

Slowly, Atlas turned his body toward the man, his bloodshot eyes fixed directly on him. The stranger seemed to expect him to either retreat or accept the humiliation he had proposed, but Atlas had no intention of doing either without making his own conditions clear.

He took a moment to suppress his killing intent further, ensuring that his anger wouldn’t interfere with his judgment, before finally opening his mouth to respond, "I accept, but we will request the rules to be altered a little."

The Oni-race man frowned upon hearing Atlas’s cold voice. He had apparently expected the human to accept the duel under the existing rules, so the suggestion immediately caught his attention. Before he could question what Atlas meant, the latter continued, his expression remaining completely devoid of amusement.

"We will request to remove the ’No-Killing’ rule from our duel."

In an instant, every eye in the surrounding area snapped toward Atlas. Even the man standing directly in front of him seemed to pause, his earlier confidence giving way to a moment of uncertainty as he finally took a closer look at the suppressed expression on Atlas’s face.

The library remained silent, but the atmosphere between the two had changed completely, and everyone who had heard Atlas’s condition understood that this duel might become far more serious than they had initially expected.