Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2215 The guillotine

”What is this...?” The executioner looked toward Arkalon with strange expressions crossing her face, expressions so rare upon her usually emotionless features that even the surrounding beasts seemed unsettled by them.

The statue-like expression she permanently maintained vanished and twisted for the first time, to the point she even stopped midway through her advance entirely. Yet anyone reading her face carefully would realize those expressions carried far more confusion and astonishment than fear or shock.

Then she slowly turned her gaze back toward Robin.

”You reached such a level of manipulation with the Master Truth Law that you can transfer its power to your soul creature?”

”It is a law like any other law. Once you understand its patterns, manipulating it becomes easy.” Robin revealed a confident smile despite the exhaustion ravaging his body.

”What arrogance!” Anger appeared on the executionerʼs face immediately, her voice finally losing part of its unnatural calmness. ”The Master Truth Law has no patterns!”

”Oof, unfortunate...” Robin covered his mouth lightly with one hand in exaggerated pity. ”Is that what they told you, little executioner?”

”....?!”

The confusion and astonishment returned to her face once more as she tried separating truth from lies inside Robinʼs words.

The Master Truth Law had observable patterns that could actually be utilized?

Impossible.

That law was infamous even among higher existences.

Yet...

Then she looked toward Arkalon, who had already begun fighting the Reapers.

How else could this level of exploitation and manipulation possibly be explained?

This was something even she had never seen or heard of before.

Rumble

The Reapers launched their assault, and Arkalon did not hesitate either.

Instantly, the surrounding region transformed into absolute hell.

Purple storms exploded across the void while gigantic beasts crashed through spatial tides, and strange symbols formed endlessly around Arkalonʼs body as Seraphim danced wildly between his fingers.

Each movement of the pen carved glowing violet marks into reality itself.

Every swing generated massive structures made from compressed purple matter.

Entire regions of space began twisting unnaturally around him.

Yet not a single one of them managed to approach the region where Robin and the executioner stood.

That area possessed an unnatural stillness, as though isolated from the battlefield itself.

Even stray attacks failed to reach it.

Attacks would curve away.

Explosions would split apart before arriving.

Spatial waves themselves bent around the two figures standing face to face.

Thus, the executioner turned back toward Robin with suppressed anger hidden beneath her cold expression.

”You empowered your soul creature with all your soul units and handed him a weapon from the Previous Era solely to *fight* me alone, or in other words, to force me into killing you personally... does this truly have value?”

”More than you think.” Robin replied confidently, though slowly, as though the words themselves resisted leaving his mouth.

Disturbance

Arkalon created another massive construct in the distance, one large enough to illuminate the entire battlefield and cast its violent purple light upon the dark-skinned executioner.

The executioner smiled faintly when she saw Robinʼs increasingly frail appearance beneath that light.

”It seems I do not even need to grant you that honor. At this level of consumption, you will die from depletion and exhaustion without me touching you.”

...Far away from the battlefield, Morgana continued crying silently...

She was a genius Soul Master herself, fully capable of calculating the absurd amount of soul units her lord had consumed from the moment he summoned the young space beasts until now.

The number had already surpassed thirty million units.

Thirty million.

Even thinking about such a number made her scalp turn numb.

One third of that amount, ten million, could be attributed to the natural capacity of a Soul Master possessing ten stars.

Another third could be explained by what her lord had mentioned earlier about himself, possessing an elastic domain.

The final third?

External sources.

Long ago, Lord Robin had gifted her a necklace composed of three parts, one of which could store soul units after the soul domain reached complete capacity. At the time, he told her it would prove useful in life-or-death situations.

That single piece of the necklace he gave her centuries ago could store nearly one million soul units.

Naturally, it was only logical to assume Lord Robin himself possessed far greater methods of external storage and rapid extraction.

An additional ten million units from such sources was not impossible for him.

Which meant...

What exactly was he using now to feed those symbols and that gigantic eye?

And what was Arkalon using to sustain his epic battle against hundreds of thousands of monsters?

Perhaps even more units hidden inside the elastic-domain property?

Or perhaps additional external soul vaults?

Whatever the source was, the conclusion remained the same.

Robinʼs pale complexion and unstable posture made it obvious he was nearly bankrupt completely.

The skin beneath the golden glow had already turned corpse-like pale.

His breathing was unstable.

Even his body seemed slightly lighter, thinner, as though the terrifying consumption was literally draining away his vitality itself.

He stood on the verge of collapse.

”Do you truly think I seek death at your hands?” Robin revealed a weary smile. ”What honor exists in dying to a beast? No... I wanted to fight you alone because I believed I could wound you. Then, if I died afterward, it would truly be an honorable death. Not because it was by your hand, but because I gave everything I had...”

Then his eyes sharpened coldly.

”At that point, you would die without regrets as well.”

The executionerʼs white eyes narrowed slightly.

For the first time since the battle began, she truly felt danger from this human.

Not because of his current strength alone.

But because of the madness in his eyes.

Then Robin slowly reached toward his belt and pulled out a small wooden box from within it.

The box itself looked simple.

Almost ordinary.

Yet the instant it appeared, the surrounding space trembled faintly.

Even the executionerʼs gaze sharpened immediately.

”I had many plans for these things...”

Then his tired smile deepened slightly while blood slowly slid from the corner of his mouth.

”But unfortunately, it seems I will be forced to waste them today.”

Clack

Robin opened the box, then opened his palm and pulled out several dark spheres resembling grapes, each one sealed within a transparent cube.

”...Greater Reaper crystals? Several of them as well...” The executionerʼs brows twitched for a moment. ”This is yet another piece of evidence confirming your story regarding the previous incident.” Then she looked directly into Robinʼs eyes. ”What exactly do you intend to do with them? Throw them at me?”

After saying those words, even the executioner herself smiled faintly at the absurdity of the idea.

”These things? No, they are beneath your level. I truly could detonate them against you, but they would not injure you the way I want... not in the manner I desire.” Robin casually began tossing the miniature crystals upward one after another. ”But that does not mean they are completely useless.”

Doooom

The left side of the Scale symbol tilted downward.

The executionerʼs caution instantly rose.

”Do not tell me you intend to use those things as sacrifices to harm me! That is absurd!!”

”I know.” Robin smiled calmly. ”If my level of understanding were higher, perhaps I would try, but the First Stage of Balance cannot achieve something like that...”

Then one of the crystals vanished while spinning through the air above him.

”But I can do something else.”

BAAAAAAF

Robinʼs aura exploded violently with immense soul force.

His pale skin instantly regained color, and the exhaustion inside his eyes disappeared as sharpness returned to them once more.

”HAAAAHAHAHA!!”

From afar, Arkalonʼs laughter thundered through the battlefield.

”POWEEEEER!!”

A massive amount of soul units had been transferred to him as well.

”You used the crystal as an exchange for soul units?” The dark complexion of the executionerʼs face deepened further. Then she resumed advancing toward him, raising her mace before her chest. ”A dried-up human or a human overflowing with vitality, the ending remains the same. You are merely making your death more painful.”

”Perhaps...” Robin nodded several times slowly, then began raising his hand upward until it reached shoulder level.

Then he pointed toward the dark-skinned executioner with a strange smile.

”But I am not merely human...”

His smile widened slightly.

”I am Robin Burton.”

Then the smile vanished entirely from his face, replaced by absolute seriousness as he muttered:

Kaatish

”...!!!”

The executioner suddenly sensed something and halted instantly, her eyes opening to their absolute limit.

Then she slowly raised her hand and passed it across her neck.

Something wet.

She pulled her hand away slightly and stared at it in stunned disbelief.

A thick dark liquid.

Blood.

She... was bleeding?!

The executioner immediately raised her eyes back toward Robin, staring at him with hatred mixed together with shock.

”Y--?!”

She tried to speak, yet her throat had been partially damaged.

There, Robin still stood in place looking like a mummy once more, his body already collapsing back toward ruin from the horrifying consumption, yet he continued staring toward her with exhaustion while muttering:

”Heeh... not deep enough...”

Then he tilted his head slightly.

”Why donʼt we try again? This time through the middle of your forehead...”

His tired smile returned.

”Try stopping it.”

Then, while maintaining that same smile, he tossed another adult beast crystal upward.

Doooom

The Scale tilted once more.

And the crystal vanished.

Thank Fre for the Magic Castle otherwise these chapters would have been very difficult XD

TruthTeller