Chapter 294: A Secret Shared

A few minutes later...

Atlas and Seraphiel were still sitting by the same riverbank where they had been before, although their positions had changed slightly. Seraphiel now sat comfortably in Atlas’s embrace with her back against his chest, while his two arms remained wrapped around her.

Neither of them spoke for a while as they simply enjoyed the scenery in front of them, allowing the quiet sound of the flowing river and the gentle breeze to fill the silence between them.

They remained like that for several more moments, with neither feeling any need to break the peaceful atmosphere. However, Atlas suddenly remembered something that had almost completely slipped his mind, causing his expression to become thoughtful. "I had nearly forgotten about that, Seraphiel," he said quietly.

"Hmm? What did you forget?" Seraphiel asked in confusion as she turned her head toward him, her wings folded neatly behind her.

"It’s about the Ruins of Eclipse, I wanted to go there, remember?" Atlas answered.

Seraphiel raised an eyebrow as she immediately remembered their conversation from the other day. Atlas had severed the contract between them because he didn’t like the thought of a contract being responsible for maintaining the "thing" that existed between them.

She had agreed with him almost immediately and had severed it without hesitation, believing that their relationship should never depend on something like a contract.

However, Atlas bringing up the Ruins of Eclipse now made her realize that he still intended to go there. There was no contract between them anymore, which meant there was no longer any obligation for him to fulfill what he had originally promised.

"You still want to go there?" she asked immediately.

Atlas nodded without a second thought. "Yes, I want to. It’s a mysterious place, right? It could be somewhere I can grow even stronger, not just because of a Divine-rank Relic."

Seraphiel lowered her head slightly as worry appeared in her expression. She knew that Atlas was extremely powerful, but the Ruins of Eclipse were still an unknown place, and that uncertainty alone was enough to make her concerned about him.

Even though the highest recorded rank of the monsters were S-rank they couldn’t be certain, after all records could never be hundred percent right. If they were then the entire Orivian situation wouldn’t have happened as well, hell in that case there were no record to begin with but...records could be fabricated just like erased in the case of Orivian and the Progenitors right?

That uncertainty made her chest tighten.

Atlas immediately noticed the change in her expression, and his right hand moved toward her face before gently lifting her chin so that she would look at him, "Do not worry, I am strong. I am much stronger than I was during the last fight," Atlas spoke calmly as he looked into her still-worried eyes.

He could tell that his words hadn’t completely removed her concern, so he exhaled softly before continuing, "On that matter, I think you should know something about me."

Seraphiel’s eyes immediately became curious. Her worry didn’t disappear completely, but her attention was now focused on what Atlas was about to tell her. Atlas remained silent for a moment before speaking, "You said there was no need to reveal one’s Unique Ability, right? Well, I don’t know if this is an Unique Ability or not, but... the function of this ability is that I grow stronger with each fight, and significantly at that."

Atlas revealed only part of the truth, deliberately keeping the deeper details to himself. His mind immediately drifted to the Codex, ’I can’t be sure. Even though it hasn’t harmed me, it may harm others around me in the future if I speak about it.’ He kept that thought to himself as he looked at Seraphiel’s widened eyes.

"W-What? Grow stronger through each battle?" she asked, clearly surprised by what she had just heard.

"Yes, that is correct. But not just physically..." Atlas paused before extending his right hand. Almost immediately, Velgrath’s Spirit Sphere materialized above his palm, the purple-colored sphere radiating an immense amount of Spirit Energy as it hovered above his hand.

"I also gain every ability the monster possesses after killing it." The moment Atlas said those words, Seraphiel’s already widened eyes became even larger.

She stared at the purple sphere for several moments, clearly trying to understand the implications of what he had just told her. However, before she could ask anything or even form a proper response, Atlas continued speaking.

"Although there are other abilities that I possess myself, such as the interference and alteration of reality, those flames, and others, my main ability is still growing stronger through each battle." He finished calmly while gently holding Seraphiel’s chin.

Seraphiel could only stare at him in wonder, wondering whether something like that was even possible. She had seen him in that future, yes, but she had never actually witnessed all of his abilities herself, nor had she ever heard him explain anything in such detail. After remaining silent for a long moment, she finally lowered her head slightly before speaking.

"I see, thank you, Atlas, for sharing something like that with me."

She felt strangely happy that Atlas had shared one of his greatest secrets with her. To Seraphiel, it indirectly meant that Atlas trusted her enough to reveal something he had kept hidden from everyone else. Her heart thumped warmly inside her chest as affection and love filled her, even though Atlas himself hadn’t said anything that directly expressed those feelings.

Atlas looked at her before speaking again, "That is not something you need to thank me for. We are partners, right?... Lifelong partners, just like those Nobles."

He spoke the words naturally before closing his eyes for a moment and allowing the wind to brush gently across his face. Seraphiel immediately turned her head toward him and stared at his expression for several seconds before a small smile appeared on her lips.

’Hehe, he uses such strange words to describe things like this. I love him so muuuuch!’

Her pupils seemed to form a small love symbol within them as her affection grew even stronger. Without saying anything else, she suddenly turned fully toward Atlas and pushed him backward onto the grassy field.

She then leaned her head against his chest and spoke softly, "Let’s stay like this for some moments..."

Atlas was startled by her sudden movement and looked down at her for a moment. However, after hearing what she wanted, he simply wrapped one arm around her back and held her close.

’Strangely... I want us to stay like this as well.’

The thought passed through his mind as he finally closed his eyes. Neither of them said anything after that, and the moment continued quietly as they remained together in each other’s embrace beside the flowing river.