Chapter 623 Suspicious Details...

Though most of the Elves seemed unconvinced by Haoran’s decision to bring in such an arrogant Human Outsider into their tribe, they dared not question him directly.

Only Haoran’s younger brother Raon remained standing there; after everyone left, he asked, "Are you sure about this?"

Haoran chuckled at his brother, "You’re too perceptive, brother..."

Raon shook his head, "This matter is of utmost importance. Brother, I truly don’t think trusting a Human about such a matter would be a right idea."

Haoran scoffed, "Trust? Of course not. When he travels with us to the capital, he will be marked by the other tribes as a part of our Bronze Leaf Tribe and would have no choice but to participate in the Tribal Battle."

The Elf added in a solemn tone, "The situation is very dangerous. The Orc Tribe might attack at any given moment. We must secure a good ranking within the Border Tribes charter, and earn the right to move closer to the central lands."

"The Edgeline of the Korlen Forest is too dangerous," sighed Haoran.

Raon asked with some hesitation, "But is this Human truly strong enough to be of our help, brother?"

Haoran replied coldly, "The Bloodlust the Human displayed was likely only a fraction of his true killing intent. He is hiding his true strength deeply."

"And our rival tribes all have 2-3 fifth-phase existences. We need to level the ground as much as possible," iterated the Tribe Leader, expressing the dire gravity of their volatile situation.

***

Axel had taken a fresh shower and was staring at himself in the mirror, only now observing that his appearance had drastically changed, how his hair and irises had both turned black.

Though that was actually the least surprising part of his... metamorphosis, because his very face had... changed.

It now strangely resembled his old face of Tyler Cross, though not entirely, but almost like a mix of features from both Axel and Tyler mashed together.

It was hard to put into words.

But his emotionless mind noted it as a useful thing, as he would not be recognised just by his face, so he would not need to go out of his way to procure an artefact to hide his appearance.

Axel’s cold mind then focused on the matter at hand, analysing the events from the start, from the first instant when everything went haywire.

It was the moment when he had killed the Duchess, and then the vague shadow of the original Axel had appeared like a cloud of fleeting smoke; the words it said were too specific...

"Thank you... for everything..."

"And I am sorry for what is about to happen."

It was almost as if the Remnant knew everything that was about to unfold from then on.

Yet, that was not the end of it, because later on, in each of the illusory loops where he lost himself, he experienced the torture of Mason Vex endlessly.

In each of those loops, he could hear a voice calling out to him, to wake him up, and that voice belonged to Sophia.

In the very last loop, it was the illusion of Sophia who urged him to wake up and told him the truth that even she was not real, but a wishful conjuration of Axel’s own mind.

In that moment, she had also uttered the exact words, "I am sorry for what is about to happen."

As if she knew exactly what Axel was about to go through: that he would have to sacrifice his emotions and survive from Eldora by a hair’s breadth, taking a gamble... jumping into the False Void.

Then he would have to die and go through another rebirth to escape from the locked-up False Void.

But how could the Remnant of Original Axel and the illusory manifestation of Sophia know any of the future events?

Why does Eldora show such obvious favouritism towards Sophia? Why did the manifestation of the World Will take Sophia’s visage?

Axel could not seem to find any coherent answer.

Yet, there was one greater anomaly that happened to him, which was perhaps the biggest cause of disturbance in his stone-cold mind.

The vision of the unknown old man warning him...

The Warning about the Emperor’s three shadows.

Axel whispered the words himself....

"The Emperor has three shadows..."

"One summoned from the depth of the abyss..."

"Destined to be the strongest... %^%^$^"

"One forged from a mountain of gold..."

"Bound to sit on the throne of pride... %^%^$^"

"And one born of his own flesh..."

"Fated to be the greatest betrayer in all of history... %^%^$^"

Axel contemplated, "At the end of each of those sentences, there were more words spoken!!!"

"But it did not reach me, or that I could not hear it; there was some kind of interference...?"

Again, these words caused a greater discrepancy in his mind than anything else, as they were presented as absolute certainty. Despite the knowledge he possessed of the future, he could not think of any of the right characters who would truly fit those descriptions.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he became confused.

It was as if he could not piece together the puzzle unless he were aware of the full truth. But Axel’s emotionless mind kept this at the back of his mind.

To always pay attention and search. Because ultimately, due to his ambition and the impossible task of stopping the inevitable calamity.

He and the invincible Emperor roaming through the continent of Eldarion were bound to clash one day in the future. But it would only be a ’clash’ on the condition that the Runecaster managed to become that horrendously strong as fast as possible.

Since those puzzling issues could not be solved in his current circumstances, his mind moved on to the things he could do, or that were useful to do in his present moment.

Axel sent a mental command to Prime, and a long barrage of rune-written messages flashed atop the mirror...

[The condition to activate the Assimilation trait of the Heart Devourer has been met]

[Axel Nomrad has experienced death...]

[Initiating assimilation of the Void attribute onto the Ancestral Demon Bloodline]

[An unknown change has been detected in the assimilation process.]

[Axel Nomrad’s ’Heart Devourer’ ability is altering the element of ’Void’]

[Warning!! We are no longer able to understand ... %%^^%$^]

*

[None of the databases within the Eldarion continent can decipher the process.]

[Reaching for the main Database outside of Eldarion.]

[An unknown form of obstruction has been detected...]

[Temporarily shutting down all operations of Prime Nexus for a complete reload...]

*

[Connection with Axel Nomrad has been reestablished...]

[Identifying the altered element assimilated by the ’Heart Devourer’ ability]

*

[You... have gained access to the power of an Outerversal law]

[Congratulations!! Axel Nomrad... You have awakened ’The Sin of Oblivion’]

Even his emotionless mind registered a flicker of surprise, or at least something resembling surprise, as he failed to process the fact instantly...

The Runecaster muttered, "An outerversal law? Oblivion?"

With a mental command, he pulled up the details...

[Sin of Oblivion: The element of Oblivion is a two-sided sword...

It is like a sword without a scabbard...

Akin to a sharp sword without a handle...

It is the absolute power of erasure that can nullify almost anything and everything. Your Mental power and Physical Endurance are the only limits to its use.

Cost: Warning!! The more Oblivion is used, the more your Mental Clarity is corroded temporarily, and the more you will suffer a physical backlash.]

Axel’s eyes narrowed involuntarily as he echoed the words, "The Power of Absolute Erasure??"

He recalled how the erratic energy behaved, and he initially thought it might be some particle-level power of destruction or decay.

Or corrosion similar to the void element.

Before he could think further about his newly gained power, a few strings of new messages flashed atop the mirror.

[Due to the severe injuries to your Soul Sanctum, you are no longer able to use either of your aspects properly]

[You can only use the Sin of Oblivion]

[You are currently a Mid-Third Phase Seeker]

[You are no longer able to advance through the phase and stages unless your Soul sanctum has been healed.]

Axel’s cold mind began to make calculations; it was just as he had thought, and he could feel his own delirious condition. It was indeed very bad.

It seemed he would have to prioritise curing himself before anything else. His inability to use either aspect was a major setback.

His Runic aspect and his ability to make artefacts were especially useful in unexpected situations and necessary for various difficult tasks.

Axel surmised in his mind the key tasks he needed to accomplish in his time on the Elven Empire.

First, he needed to find a way to cure his Soul Sanctum and aspects.

Second was to find the key characters who had the Providence of the Elven race focused upon them.

Third and most important was to prevent the fall of the Elven Empire into the hands of the Serpentkins, of course.

The Runecaster moved away from the mirror and asked, "The Title of the Cursed One!!"

"It was never imposed upon me by the World Will, was it?" he queried, as if talking to the air.

But an answer was indeed whispered to his ears: [That is correct]

"As I thought she was lying." Axel scoffed, "Even if I had sacrificed my emotions to Eldora, I would still likely have died one way or another."

"And if she had my emotions within her grasp, she would have been able to seal away the power of the Eternal sins!!" surmised Axel matter-of-factly.