Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 221: Close To Six

Chapter 221: Close To Six

Atlas began to feel his heart beating again, completely at ease, and realised that his mind had cleared and he had regained control of his legs and arms.

Not only that, but his fourth magic ring—the poison magic ring—had grown slightly. It was strange; Atlas had never heard of such a thing before, but to be honest, he couldn’t say it mattered much to him at the moment.

He managed to pull himself together and then smiled, saying, "Sage of Seals indeed... The best alchemist who ever lived."

Bellatrix could no longer hold back, and tears began to stream down her face.

The only ones not crying in the room were Talon and Cosmo, and even Cordelia couldn’t control her tears.

An hour passed, and when Atlas was teleported to Shadowfall Castle, everything was shared with Cassandra, Juliet, and, of course, Irene.

Their reactions were understandable.

Cassandra really tried to leave to scold Cordelia, but Talon and Constantine managed to stop her.

Juliet, to put it bluntly, had embraced Atlas, whom she had begun to see as her little brother, and hadn’t let go for minutes.

Irene, on the other hand, had punched Atlas’s shoulder repeatedly. Irene didn’t want to lose each other again. The last thing she wanted was to part ways with her closest friend once more.

At least... for now, everything had returned to normal.

After all the chaos, Atlas had been forced into a position where he truly needed days of rest.

The young man was completely locked in the room with Cassandra by her spell, able only to look out the balcony and consume the food brought to him.

Of course, this had also managed to push Atlas back into training his aura. His gaze and thoughts were much sharper than he had imagined.

He had stood there in his room for a long time, constantly swinging his sword. This time, he wanted to perform the aura training not through meditation but through active movements, ensuring that the aura constantly circulated throughout his body.

Of course, the only reason for this was that everything was better this way. In every sense of the word.

After all, the amount of aura in Atlas’s body had truly reached a massive amount. Although having a fifth-level aura had developed his body to an incredible extent, that was the case. Thanks to that enhancement and the Life Stone’s constant generation of aura energy, Atlas was able to continue developing and increasing his aura energy without doing anything.

As this energy, which was already at a very high dose, managed to increase exponentially over time, he had almost reached the sixth level, or the threshold of becoming a half-aura master, during the time he spent in his room.

The sixth level allows you to pass through that door, while the seventh level allows you to construct the hell that appears before you when you pass through the door.

Just like the flower gardens in Eva’s Aura Zone.

Atlas could already create an aura zone, though it wasn’t very large. After all, the Starry Night ability helped him greatly in this regard, but it wasn’t enough.

He had to reach the sixth level.

Even during the month he spent in his room, he learned that demons had begun to pass through the barriers of the Epsilon Empire, and every village, town, small or large city within the barrier covering the empire... each one was covered with additional barriers.

In other words, there were barriers within barriers within barriers.

He was able to help everyone understand the extent to which the danger had increased, how many demons were still present, and how much more of the demon gateway would be released into the outside world.

Atlas could not ignore this.

Especially since almost every Sage was directly attacking the demons attacking the barrier.

Some high-ranking demons, such as Cosmo, Cassandra, and Cordelia, could be destroyed by beings who were truly closest to the level of gods, but what Atlas feared was the first three in the seven great demon layers.

Lucifer was a friend and was under lock and key.

Still, the remaining two demons could not be ignored.

One was Asmodeus, the demon of lust himself.

The other was Beelzebub himself, who in his previous life had caused Atlas’s death and everything to go back in time.

To put it simply, Atlas was worried. Cordelia could be the strongest person on Earth, but she wasn’t the strongest in the universe, in all the realms.

That’s why he was curious...

Could Cordelia stand up to Asmodeus and Beelzebub?

Even though Atlas loved Cordelia deeply and respected her immensely, he knew that no one in the world could do that. After all, the one who created the demon’s poison was Beelzebub himself.

How could a demon capable of creating and designing a poison powerful enough to pin even a Sage, especially the most powerful Sage, Cordelia herself, to her deathbed, fail to defeat that Sage?

He was perhaps the most powerful demon after Lucifer.

Atlas couldn’t ignore him. He couldn’t even imagine daring to do so.

Therefore, even if he were to grow stronger, he had to do so much faster.

This brought his current aura training to the forefront.

In just one month, he had reached the halfway point of the fifth level and the threshold of the sixth level.

He was constantly moving, swinging the Holy Sword Delusion in his hand, and continuously circulating the aura energy that was forming at a hyper speed every second in his body through the Life Stone, through every vein, nerve cell, and muscle.

This was gradually increasing the purity and scope of application of the aura energy, as well as its harmony with the remaining aura energy. The aura was different; while magic was destructive, the aura was terminating.

This also highlighted the danger of what Atlas was currently doing. There was only one reason why everyone practised aura training in a specific position. Unlike magic, or rather, unlike mana gathering, aura training could not be done while moving.

The only reason Atlas trained his mana through meditation was because he was truly a master at it; he could do ten times the training someone could do while moving quickly, while sitting and taking deep breaths.

But the aura was different.

Training aura was not like training the magic rings around the heart.

Every cell in the body was covered in aura, including the cells within the heart that surrounded the magical rings.

And to constantly move it, especially during battle—that is, while releasing aura energy—to keep that energy inside and constantly strive to develop it was akin to signing one’s death warrant.

Was it effective?

Yes.

Was it foolish?

Absolutely.

[Atlas, you must calm down. We are no longer angry with you, but if you continue like this, you will kill yourself.]

When this message suddenly appeared before Atlas, he stopped his training and sat on his bed, sweating and with blurred vision.

This message had come from Selene. Every god and goddess, including Nyx, had given up trying to put words into Atlas’s mind because Atlas wasn’t listening to anyone.

When Selene spoke these words, Atlas paused.

"You know I won’t stop, my lady, please calm down, I know what I’m doing," Atlas had said.

[You said the same thing when you were absorbing the poison, but you almost died. We don’t even know if Chronos has the power to bring you back, so stay calm and try to train normally,] Selene sent another message.

Atlas shook his head and replied, "I’m very close. At least I had to reach the sixth level. Thanks to Starry Night, grasping the power of the seventh level for five minutes might mean I can defeat a high-ranking demon. The Seven Sages, Cosmo, and my mother, Aveline, won’t be enough. My sister Eva and the other aura masters have clearly stated that they will help us, but..." he said and paused.

[But?] Selene asked.

"But what if they’re trying to divide us? They’re too quiet. They went back through the gate. Believe me, you’ve seen everything; I know very well what they’re capable of. If we split up, we’re finished. The number of people who can use the teleportation spell is limited. Everyone can’t stay together and go somewhere to help. My sister and a few aura masters have to stay directly with the Sages. We don’t have much power left."

When Atlas said these words, every god and goddess paused. Every word he said was valid. After all, he was the one who had experienced this apocalypse before.

"Still, everything is much better than before. With every step I take, I don’t see the bodies of shattered elves, humans, or half-humans... At least we only lost about a million lives out of billions, not more. I know I’m greedy, but..." Atlas muttered, covering his face with his hands, then lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling of his room.

[You’re not greedy.] A message window suddenly appeared in front of Atlas.

This message had come from someone he never expected.