Chapter 272: Despair

Atlas, on the other hand, felt an immense strain building inside his mind as he continued using that ability. The veins across his forehead became more visible from the pressure, and sweat slowly formed across his face as he maintained the interference. It took nearly half a minute before the Dragon Emperor’s entire body finally returned to its original state.

His damaged organs, cores, and other injuries had been restored, and a completely different presence began radiating from him as his consciousness finally returned.

Atlas felt the strain inside his mind slowly fade away as he took a breath and wiped the sweat from his face, ’Even though it doesn’t require any energy, it still takes a toll on me. My mental capacity is quite lacking...’

He then turned toward the now-awake Dragon Emperor, whose vertical pupils immediately focused on Atlas. Zaakrax slowly raised his body from the limp position in which he had been floating until now, still trying to understand what had happened to him.

He couldn’t understand how he was still alive. He was certain that both his Soul Core and Astral Core had been damaged to an extreme degree by Orivian’s palm strike, and there should have been no way for him to recover from that attack so easily, ’He healed me? Hmm...’

As Zaakrax examined his own body, he suddenly realized that something was missing from his entire being. It wasn’t an organ, a core, or any form of energy. It was something fundamental that every living being possessed.

When he focused deeper into himself, Zaakrax suddenly realized what it was.

There was no feeling of pain.

His vertical pupils widened slightly as the realization reached him. "You-!" he shouted in his deep draconic voice, but Atlas simply laughed as a small amount of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth. "Guess I repaid one favour. As for the debt..." Atlas paused before turning toward Orivian, the strange symbols carved into his pupils still remaining visible.

"I will be fulfilling that one by killing him, as the message you delivered to those Laws."

Atlas finished speaking, causing Orivian to narrow his eyes. A small smile soon appeared on his face as he looked toward Atlas. "Is that so? From what I observed, that ability of yours interferes with, or completely changes, the ’Logic’ of reality."

Orivian extended one hand toward his own Domain before continuing, "But tell me, you didn’t think that it would work on someone who possesses the Ultimate Ability, ’Event Absorption,’ and inside his own Domain at that, right?"

He slowly rotated his palm as though turning something around. The moment he did, the shaking of the entire Domain stopped, and the rings that had disappeared around the others suddenly returned. They appeared exactly as they had before, as though they had never cracked or disappeared in the first place.

Everyone already understood what had happened. Orivian had consumed the very Event of Atlas interfering with the Logic of the rings, causing the previous change to be erased completely. Atlas understood it as well, but he didn’t become confused or surprised by the result.

He had already taken this possibility into account from the beginning, which was why a small smile appeared on his face instead.

"Heh, I guess you thought I didn’t take that into account? Let me show you something, then." Atlas lifted his hand again, and for the first time, he was the one who snapped his fingers.

SNAP.

The moment the sound echoed through the Domain, all the rings disappeared again. However, that wasn’t the only thing that changed. Orivian suddenly felt something happening deep inside his soul, something that made him instinctively focus his perception inward. The moment he understood what was happening, his expression changed completely.

The Force of his Ultimate Ability, Event Absorption, which was directly connected to his soul, was having its own logic altered.

"WHAT?!" Orivian’s eyes snapped open as he shouted.

Before he could even process what Atlas had done, another sensation reached him. His own Domain had begun cracking, and the first cracks were spreading from the Halo above him. The Domain that had previously been completely under his control was now beginning to destabilize because the very connection that allowed his Ultimate Ability to function was being interfered with.

Orivian’s eyes widened as he finally stopped trying to capture Atlas’s soul through normal methods. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time. He needed to kill this boy immediately, no, he needed to kill this Monster hiding beneath Human skin before Atlas could interfere with anything else.

His figure disappeared.

The next instant, Orivian appeared directly in front of Atlas at a speed that defied any normal understanding of movement. His speed had surpassed the speed of light by multiple folds, and his movement was so fast that even the strongest beings in Eliomor would have been unable to perceive him.

His Zin-Ruka Progenitor constitution already gave him the combined physical characteristics of all the races that existed within Eliomor. On top of that, consuming Luberion’s soul had increased his raw physical prowess by eight times what it had been before.

At his current level, there was no one in the entire world of Eliomor who could see him move, let alone react to his attacks.

A single punch from Orivian would be enough to kill Atlas.

His physical strength and speed had reached a level that Atlas couldn’t even hope to match, while his Flames of Nothingness could no longer protect him as Orivian had already figured out a way to deal with it. That was what the situation looked like from the outside, but Atlas himself had never intended to compete with Orivian in either strength or speed.

Atlas remained exactly where he was without moving even a single inch. He already knew that he was no match for Orivian physically, but instead of showing fear toward the incoming attack, a grin slowly appeared on his face.

’Got you!’ The strain inside Atlas’s mind suddenly increased several times as he immediately activated another application of Mu-Ri.

"無理 — 速度論理改変."

Mu-Ri — Sokudo Rōri Kaihen.

The moment Atlas spoke, the movement of Orivian’s entire body changed.

Orivian was already directly in front of Atlas, his fist moving toward him through the fabric of space-time, but his movement suddenly became extremely slow. The speed that had previously allowed him to cross the battlefield almost instantly was no longer functioning as it should. His fist continued moving forward, but its speed had been reduced to something comparable to a snail’s movement.

Orivian immediately understood what had happened.

Atlas had interfered with and altered the very Logic of Speed.

His fist stopped only an inch away from Atlas’s face. Despite the situation, Atlas’s grin remained unchanged as he looked directly at Orivian, ’I don’t care how much pain I need to endure. He needs to die out of despair, just like I died in that future.’

Atlas continued looking at him for a moment before speaking with amusement, "Now then, what will you do? You’ve been wandering around trying to capture our souls and consume them, but it seems...you’re the one who’s going to be captured now."

Atlas’s expression remained calm, but the grin on his face made him look completely different to Orivian. For the first time, the situation had been reversed, and Orivian was the one whose movements were being controlled by someone else’s ability.

Just then, a voice suddenly reached Orivian’s mind, ’Orivian... preparations for the ritual are finished. The activation is now in your hands.’

It was Eliomor.

Orivian’s grim expression remained for a moment before slowly changing. The tension on his face disappeared, and a grin appeared across his lips as he looked directly at Atlas.