Chapter 275: Weak Yet Strong

The moment those words reached Atlas, his mind went completely blank. His thoughts felt cut off from his brain, and he couldn’t even hear the rest of the words Orivian was speaking anymore. Only one thing passed through his instincts and his very being: Kill this man.

Yet...Atlas did not move instantly.

He remained where he was, his eyes fixed on Seraphiel’s soul in a daze as if he were trying to comprehend the sudden feeling that had appeared inside his heart. Even though every part of his being was telling him to kill Orivian, he couldn’t bring himself to move, and his heartbeat continued rising rapidly.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

’Wh-What is this?’ More than anything, Atlas wanted to understand this feeling, because he had never experienced anything like it before. It was a feeling of dread and fear creeping into his heart, the fear of losing the only person who had ever genuinely cared about him and the dread of watching her die again because of him.

Even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he still had ways to save her, Atlas remained motionless. If he interfered with the Logic of the ’Space’ where her soul was located, he believed he could retrieve her at any moment, and even if Orivian consumed her soul, Atlas knew that if he pushed himself hard enough and paid a sufficient price with his mental capacity, he might be able to alter the ’Logic’ of her being consumed and save her.

Yet despite knowing all of this, he still did not move.

These were the feelings that were making Atlas vulnerable for the first time in his entire life.

He had always been able to remain calm and think clearly regardless of the situation, but now his thoughts were being affected simply because Seraphiel’s soul was in Orivian’s hand.

He was so focused on understanding the fear inside his heart that he didn’t immediately notice Orivian watching him. However, the moment Orivian spoke again, Atlas’s confused and fearful expression slowly changed into one filled with grimness and rage.

"You might be wondering if you alter the Logic of me consuming her soul, you can save her. Or if you were to alter the Logic of the Space where her soul is...you can save her?" Orivian’s calm voice spread across the entire battlefield, causing everyone nearby to turn toward him.

He continued speaking without changing his expression, "But are you sure about that? Let me tell you a small story, a very small one..." He paused briefly before continuing, "A millennium ago, my brother and I were regarded as the strongest and the first-born Progenitors of Eliomor. At that time, my brother was regarded as the strongest because his strength truly spoke for itself."

"But me? I wasn’t the strongest because I possessed similar strength. No, not in the slightest. I was far too weak compared to my brother, but what I possessed were these observing eyes and a calculating mind."

"Because of them, I invented and discovered ways to shed the limitations placed upon our race by the Laws themselves." Orivian paused as the corners of his eyes curved slightly while he looked directly toward Atlas. "And that is exactly why you...will be the one to experience despair, despair so great that you will eventually hand over your soul to me with your own hands, you want to know How?"

A grin finally appeared on Orivian’s face before he revealed the information he had discovered after observing Atlas for so long. "After all the observation I’ve done, I finally figured out the limitation of your ability, your ability to interfere with and alter the ’Logic’ of a phenomenon or person only works when you can establish a direct reference to it through your perception. In other words...it must be within your line of sight."

The moment those words ended, Atlas’s eyes widened in horror as he immediately came out of his daze and activated his ability.

The familiar symbols carved into Atlas’s pupils began glowing as he attempted to interfere with the ’Space’ where Seraphiel’s soul existed. He focused his ability on that location, trying to establish a direct reference to the Space containing her soul, but nothing happened.

He felt no strain and received no reaction from either Orivian or Seraphiel’s soul. Atlas immediately shifted to another method and attempted to alter the ’Logic’ of the Distance separating him from Seraphiel, but even after changing the Logic of Distance, he still couldn’t find her.

Atlas’s face slowly turned pale as his expression became increasingly grim. ’E-Even with these absurd abilities...I am this weak? I...I am unable to save the only person...’ His thoughts couldn’t even come out properly anymore as his mind struggled to process what was happening.

After everything he had gained and everything he had been capable of doing until now, he still couldn’t reach the one person he desperately wanted to save. His knees finally gave out beneath him, and Atlas dropped to the ground while his eyes remained completely fixed on Seraphiel’s ’Soul’.

Now one would ask, Atlas had just used his abilities to search and sense across the entire world, so how could Mu-Ri have a limitation like this? The answer was simple.

It wasn’t that the phenomenon or person literally needed to be within Atlas’s normal ’Line of Sight’. Orivian had intentionally omitted one crucial detail from his explanation, because the actual limitation was connected to the Reality itself rather than ordinary perception.

’The Logic of the ’Reality’ he is trying to interfere with needs to be the same ’Reality’ he is in. Heh, if it weren’t for the artifact given to me by the ’them’, it would have taken me a long time to figure that out.’ Orivian thought as he watched the despair spreading across Atlas’s face, small tears slowly slipping down his cheeks.

Atlas’s ability could search across the entire world because the entire world existed within the same Reality he occupied, and that was why his previous attempts had succeeded. However, Orivian and Seraphiel’s soul were no longer within that same Reality, which meant there was no logical reference that Atlas could establish between himself and them.

’This girl’s ability was somehow able to see the future where he died, eh? It means this girl is also not simple...’

Orivian turned his attention toward Seraphiel’s ’Soul’ in his hand before looking back at Atlas. However, while he was observing the reaction of the young man below him, Zaakrax’s massive figure suddenly appeared behind him.

The Dragon Emperor didn’t utter a single word as he immediately swung his massive claw toward Orivian, the entire attack coated in Nihility. The claw stopped only an inch away from Orivian’s figure, but instead of moving to block it, Orivian simply grinned without even turning around.

The very next moment, Zaakrax’s massive claw phased directly through Orivian’s body as though Orivian didn’t exist in that Space in the first place.

Orivian slowly turned toward Zaakrax with the same grin on his face before speaking, "I also forgot to mention the limitation of this ability. This Nihility you use, and the Flames he uses, need an actual ’Space’ to exist in if they are not meant affect the owner."

"Essentially, that creates a loophole where I can simply extract the ’Space’ where I am and consume the very ’Event’ of the Space where I am. That essentially means I do not even exist within that ’Space’ anymore for your ability to erase at all." Orivian looked directly toward Zaakrax as his grin widened slightly behind his organic armour across his mouth.

"Did I not say that I was the strongest because of my innate ability to observe and invent things?"