Tower of Heaven

The bright flash of light dispersed in almost the same instant. Atlas, Feng Ziran, and the Kitsune all fell to the ground and landed on their feet at the same time, facing each other.

However, Feng Ziran had already relaxed her body. Atlas soon followed. The only one still ready to fight was the young fox itself.

Unfortunately, that was no longer possible for it.

There was a large golden collar around its neck, a band that signified its loss of freedom. The moment that band was used, it lost all of its ability to resist.

Atlas watched with a strange expression. Not only was the fox unable to attack, but it was also slowly losing its vigor. Within the next few minutes, its eyes started to droop and it started swaying from side to side.

’This

No matter what kind of slave collar Feng Ziran had in her hands, there was no way it could have such an extreme effect on a Divine Beast.

Sensing his curiosity, she explained in as few words as she could.

"That collar… is the same one that was almost used on me when I had just hatched. If it weren’t for Elder Siyu, I would have found myself in a similar fate to this child."

Atlas nodded and didn’t press further. He could see the complex emotions on Feng Ziran’s face as she battled with her own hypocrisy. It may have been done with the ultimate goal of saving this young one, but in the end, she had still become what she hated the most.

She had enslaved another beast.

"Can it still understand us?" Atlas asked, to which Feng Ziran responded with a nod.

"Its mind is still aware, but it has essentially been forced into a submissive state. In this child’s case, I guess you could say he found ’calm’ for the first time."

"Hmm…"

Atlas made a sound of acknowledgement before speaking again.

"Do you mind if I speak to it for a moment?"

Feng Ziran raised an eyebrow curiously.

"If you want to. You’re the one who put the collar on, so you’re technically its owner, after all."

With such daunting words, she stepped away in order to give Atlas some privacy, not that he needed much.

He looked at the beast that was looking back at him with helpless eyes. The juxtaposition between its internal emotions and the emotions forced onto it by the collar was putting too much strain on its mind.

"Haa…"

"It’s only a temporary pain. Bear with it for a little longer, and everything will become more pleasant."

The Kitsune was lying down by now, unable to stand on its feet, but Atlas didn’t need to lower himself to meet its eyes. They were matching each other’s eye level at this height already. Ɽᴀ₦Ǒ𐌱Êṧ

"There isn’t much you want to hear from me, so I will only say what is necessary."

Atlas knew that he was speaking to a child, but he wanted to tell it these things as comprehensively as possible so it could always refer to this memory if it needed to in the future.

"You will be staying with me and those I trust for the next ten years. For ten years, you will be one of us. If, after that time period passes, you still wish to fight and destroy the world, then I will give you the chance to do so. Even if you do not have such desires and wish to leave simply for your own sake, I will not stop you."

In ten years, if it held the same opinions it did now, then Atlas could accept that he was not fated to help this beast.

"If you are ever able to defeat me in a spar before that ten-year time period ends, then you can leave early. You only have to win once to earn your freedom. The only condition is that you may only challenge me once a year."

It was not only an incentive for the Kitsune, but also a way for him to keep himself on his toes. If he slacked in his training, it was the same as letting a ravenous beast that wanted to eat the world into the very same buffet it craved so desperately.

The fox’s eyes didn’t change one bit as it listened to his words, but Atlas didn’t stop speaking them until he was finished. He told the child everything about their current agreement so it could one day understand that it truly was not being enslaved a second time.

Only after he’d gotten his entire speech off did he step off to the side and allow Feng Ziran some time alone with the beast. She had been glaring at him since he started talking to it as if she was asking him how much longer he was going to take.

’I think this is enough.’

He offered the Kitsune the opportunity to fight him again in hopes that it would feel better about its position, since it could still control its own fate by becoming stronger.

Nevertheless, Atlas knew that the young fox’s true goal was elsewhere. What it truly wanted was revenge on its captors.

But, the current Atlas couldn’t even promise that they were alive. If they were alive now, they’d likely die soon if there were Feng Clan Immortals chasing after them.

Atlas shifted its target of revenge onto himself. He didn’t do it because he pitied the fox’s captors or thought revenge was a terrible thing. Rather, it was because he knew that this was the only way to bring the beast back to the light.

As long as he was the target of revenge, he could mold that revenge into a friendlier feeling of challenge. Over the years, as the young fox grew into a mature beast, it would be able to see the world properly.

If there was still a revenge for it to take at that time, Atlas had no qualms with letting it pursue such desires. If it was acting with a sound mind, it was no longer his business to interfere.

However, until then, as the person Feng Ziran made responsible for the collar around its neck, he was the one who had ruling authority over what it could and couldn’t do.

’I told it that it can challenge me at any time, but that isn’t quite the case.’

After all, as soon as he finished his matters in Alfros and Vanatos, he would be gone for an indefinite period. He wouldn’t be able to oversee the beginning stages of the fox’s growth and adaptation process.

He could leave that to the Feng Clan, and when he had finally rescued Artemia and Horus, he could bring the beast with him to more beautiful places than the underworld itself.

’I should pull Feng Ziran aside and inform her.’

Feng Ziran was currently with the fox attempting to reason with it. Basically, in her eyes, if she could relate to it, she could make it at least somewhat less wary of them.

She forgot that they were the very same people who had essentially enslaved it, but that was another thing.

As Atlas looked for the right moment to call her over, his entire body suddenly trembled. A shiver started at the back of his neck and traveled all the way down his spine. His eyes narrowed into pinpoints and he swung around to find the source of the issue.

He saw it, but it was not an approaching enemy. Rather, the being in question was currently in the process of vanishing into the distance.

However, that feeling…

That very specific feeling of morbid death could only be expressed by a single person’s aura.

And that malformed figure optimized for the perfect performance in body cultivation wasn’t something that could be easily forgotten.

"Atlas?"

Feng Ziran looked over after noticing his strangeness.

"Did you sense something? Is there another issue?"

Her questions came into his ears and left through the other side. He paid them no mind at all.

’Cain

No, that wasn’t it.

’Alkatiya.’

An envoy from Alkatiya was supposed to meet him around this time, but instead he was met with a calamity.

A group that was willing to stand behind a person like Cain…

It was absolutely possible for them to engage in cruelty like what Atlas had witnessed in this realm.

But, even more important than that in his mind was his personal grudge.

When he killed Cain back then, he was freed from a cycle that many people in the Tower dreaded. He only had to deal with the constant pursuit of the maniacal man for the duration of five or so floors.

If he had to deal with it again now, while he was so preoccupied with the rest of the world…

’Cain needs to die.’

And that was Cain’s back disappearing into the distance.

Feng Ziran was still trying to call out to him, but his mind was already in the distance chasing the enemy.

His body was soon to follow as well.

[Astral Step]

Whoosh!

Within seconds, he had become a blur in the distance.

Only Feng Ziran and the Kitsune were left in the ruins of Gearven wondering what had happened.

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