Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1652: A voice

After ten years — the year 540 After the Coronation —

Robin sat in front of the same ancient cave as he always did, legs crossed and shoulders hunched, a massive, half-finished canvas looming silently before him. The soft light from the soul crystals embedded in the cavern walls bathed him in a dim, golden glow, yet it did nothing to ease the storm swirling behind his eyes.

He absentmindedly scratched his head with the end of his quill, while his other hand idly picked at the rough edges of his toenails — a habit that betrayed his irritation more than he cared to admit. His face was tight with thought, his expression a blend of frustration, exhaustion, and stubborn determination.

”Still no progress? Tsk, tsk~ how truly disappointing...”

Arkalon’s teasing voice echoed lazily from the side, laced with that familiar tone of mockery that a soul creature should not have.

”...?!” Robin turned sharply, irritation flickering like lightning in his eyes. There, leaning against a stack of canvases, Arkalon stood grinning broadly, his ethereal form shimmering faintly in the dim light. ”Are you mocking me again?! What’s stopping me from granting you a ten-unit soul force expansion right now and tossing you to the village children as a toy for the evening?”

Arkalon’s grin only widened. ”What’s the harm in teasing you a little? You remind me of my own sluggishness every single day — consider it repayment!” He then tilted his head toward the enormous painting before them, his tone growing more curious. ”Still, I must say, you’re quite a peculiar owner.”

Beside him, the heap of completed paintings had grown enormous — easily double what it had been just a few months ago. The sheer contrast between their outputs made Robin’s eye twitch.

”I’m only trying to pressure you,” Robin muttered, tapping rhythmically on the surface of his canvas. ”You’re just recreating something that already exists — something that’s been achieved before. I, on the other hand, am being asked to accomplish the impossible.”

”Impossible?” Arkalon scoffed, waving a translucent hand. ”Don’t exaggerate. You’re trying to fix a contaminated soul domain — it’s not that complicated. Compare that to my miracle-tier technique? Hah! The absurdity.”

”Not complicated, you say?” Robin’s voice dropped dangerously. He raised a hand to his temple, drew out a small sphere of glowing light — a memory — and flung it toward Arkalon. ”Here. These are my recollections of Morgana’s soul domain. Take a look... and then try saying that word again.”

”.....” Arkalon fell silent. He closed his eyes for several long seconds, processing the flood of alien memories and imagery. When he opened them again, his face twisted — then he broke into helpless laughter. ”Aheheh~ ah, I see now! Yes, yes... this truly is impossible, she is doomed hehe.”

”....” Robin cracked his neck to one side, then the other, muttering through gritted teeth. He had to force himself to stay calm — to not throttle his own soul creature into oblivion. Instead, he exhaled slowly, turned back to his canvas, and stared.

This... this was it. The final piece of a maddening puzzle.

The single, elusive fragment that had held him back for nearly thirty years, preventing him from completing his technique and sending it to Morgana.

Technically, she was already dead.

Her soul domain had collapsed long ago, decaying into a pure specter — an empty echo of what once was. Yet, by some miracle, a fragment of her consciousness had survived, bound by a single, extraordinary thread that connected the specter to her body. That anomaly — that rare, inexplicable spark — had preserved her mind when all natural law dictated it should have vanished.

But the same miracle that kept her ”alive” was also her curse.

Her domain could no longer expand; she was barred from earning another Royal Star, her growth utterly halted. Worse still, the fragile thread holding her existence together was thinning by the day. Once it snapped — and it would snap — the specter dwelling inside her would finally tear free from her body and escape into the void.

To rely on the Fundamental Law of Purity alone to fix such a catastrophe? That was madness. Short-sighted, naïve, and doomed from the very start. No wonder that girl from the Radiant Galaxy had failed so completely. Her raw strength was meaningless when her method itself was flawed beyond repair.

And now Robin sat in her wake, burdened with a task that should not exist.

What was being asked of him was not creation, nor repair — it was resurrection.

Robin had already woven a complex and delicate pattern, one that fused the Master Law of Creation with the Fundamental Law of Purity. The idea behind it was bold: the two laws would operate simultaneously, feeding and sustaining each other in a perfect cycle. In theory, that design should have been sufficient to restore her fragmented soul domain, rebuilding it one segment at a time, breathing vitality back into something long thought dead.

But it still wasn’t ready—something within him refused to proceed. He feared what reaction the specter might have once the restoration began. The entity inside her soul was far from passive; any sudden interference could provoke chaos. Worse, the delicate remnants of her soul domain could collapse entirely if the process went wrong.

After he ascended and became a Royal Soul Master, Robin refined his approach. He introduced a new addition — an element that relied on the purple matter. Its purpose was to restrain the specter and shield the weakened fragments of her soul domain during reconstruction. It should have worked. It should have been enough.

Yet... something was missing.

Something he could feel but couldn’t name. A void in his understanding, like an invisible gap in a perfect equation.

”Hmm... fascinating pattern,” came a voice beside him, calm and curious. ”Why that specific configuration? Is it something to do with a soul domain?”

”Yes, yes,” Robin replied absentmindedly, still scratching his head with the pen’s end. His brows were furrowed in deep frustration. ”It looks perfect to me, but there’s a piece I can’t identify. Once I activate this pattern, it should completely rebuild the girl’s soul domain from the ground up and purge the specter within it. And yet, I keep feeling... it’s going to fail.”

Silence followed, then the voice spoke again, slower this time.

”Hmm. Tell me—what about the girl’s body? Is it still intact?”

”Her body...” Robin muttered, frowning harder. ”Outwardly, yes, it seems fine. But...” He pointed ahead with his pen, his tone heavy with unease. ”Her lips and the skin around her eyes are as black as the void itself. I had to craft an entire makeup set using the Master Law of Creation just to mask it. There’s definitely something wrong with her physical form.”

”...Could that be what’s missing?” The voice grew more thoughtful. ”If we assume that rare strand you spoke of connects her dead soul domain to her body, then doesn’t that mean the body itself is lingering in a state of near death? And yet—her life artery is overflowing with energy. She’s... truly extraordinary.”

”The exact mechanism doesn’t matter right now,” Robin replied, waving dismissively though his tone carried strain. ”What matters is that the link between her corrupted soul and body—the one held by that rare strand—will inevitably break. When that happens, I’ll still be working to repair her soul domain, but her body will lose every trace of vitality. At best, I’ll be left with a specter of remarkable purity... or maybe a strong soul creature like you, Arkalon.”

”...!?” Arkalon, who had been focused on his own sketches, suddenly looked up in confusion. He had no idea why his name had been dragged into this conversation.

The voice chuckled faintly before speaking again.

”If that’s the missing component, the solution is straightforward. Bring the girl before you, locate the exact points of connection, and reinforce them using body-based laws. The Laws of Blood, in particular, may play a critical role in preserving that fragile link.”

”No need~” Robin waved his hand lazily, though a spark of excitement flickered in his eyes. He lowered his hand onto the blueprint again and began sketching with renewed vigor. ”The Master Law of Creation will handle it, no matter the problem. I’ll increase its presence throughout the patterns, let it spread through Morgana’s entire body, and rebuild anything incomplete or dying. Tsk~ it’ll increase the strain on my soul force AND Solid energy levels, but at least I’ve reached Level 44 again.”

”The Master Law of Creation, hmm? Very well...” The voice sighed with mild disappointment, almost teasing. ”I was hoping to show off my knowledge of the Laws of Blood for once.”

Then, after a pause filled with quiet reverence, it added with a faint smirk,

”Let’s find something else to experiment on, then— master.”