Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2038 The last card

Rumble.

Robin stopped breathing-his lungs locking, his body frozen as if the air itself had vanished from the world around him.

The Shadow Swords and the imperial guards surrounding him noticed nothing at all-no ripple, no pressure, no warning sign of any kind.

Holak, Latania, Drake, and the rest of the guards who were locked in brutal combat with the space beasts at that very moment noticed nothing either-no tremor, no shift, no unseen presence creeping closer.

Only Robin saw it.

And only Althera felt it. ”...?”

Altheraʼs wide eyes opened to their fullest, her pupils trembling as her entire body instantly shifted into a full combat state-muscles tightening, energy surging-when she sensed the aura of that thing approaching the gate...

An adult space beast.

Not even a Behemoth could kill an adult void beast. Even if a Behemoth and all his offspring joined forces against one, the absolute best they could ever achieve would be forcing it to retreat.

Those entities were exclusive prey of the Cosmic Elder alone-existences meant to be erased only by beings that stood above natural law itself.

In the instant Althera hesitated-just a fraction of a second-and instinctively prepared for battle, one of the nascent space beasts exploited the opening and escaped through the defensive net. ”Damn it!”

Althera snapped back to her senses and immediately resumed containment, forcibly tightening the suppression field.

If she lost focus even slightly, all of these beasts would escape and spread across the entire sector like a cosmic plague.

An adult space beast could not pass through this narrow corridor.

She had to focus on what she was doing-only on her task, nothing else.

The support of the black wasps had helped greatly-her role had been reduced to preventing the space beasts from escaping and leaving the killing to them. Even so, the responsibility on her shoulders was still enormous... crushing.

One mistake-just one-and the entire system would collapse, dragging all the surrounding planets into a survival catastrophe that no civilization could endure.

Hoooom.

At that moment, the eye moved.

It was as if the entire gate itself turned to look in a single direction-like a colossal living entity shifting its gaze with silent intent. ”Althera, be careful!!”

Robin shouted when he saw where it was looking, his voice sharp with urgency. ”Hah?”

Althera instinctively turned toward the gate-because that was where the only creature she truly had to fear existed.

BANG!

She felt nothing but a massive shockwave-pure destructive force-that hurled her backward hundreds of meters through the air like a broken doll.

Then-”pfft”-Althera spat thick blood, her body shaking as she wiped her mouth with a mix of forced calm and deep, instinctive terror.

The adult space beast had attacked her.

It attacked her with nothing but a sideways glance from the other side-no movement, no strike, no technique-just intent made physical.

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

At that moment, three nascent space beasts managed to escape, slipping through the collapsing containment like shadows through cracks in a wall. ”Althera, attack the gate! That thing is trying to push you away so the nascent beasts can escape this death trap!!”

Robin shouted, his voice tearing through the battlefield chaos. ”Itʼs just an eye-thereʼs no protection on it. Burst its eye!”

Disturbance.

Robin felt his entire body shudder violently, a deep instinctive fear crawling through his nerves.

The eye of the adult space beast focused on him.

Faced with that gaze-ancient, cold, and infinitely vast-Robin formed a twisted, unsettling smile and muttered, ”...Did you understand my words, Mr.

Beast?”

BANG!

A colossal shockwave burst from the gate, racing straight toward Robin like a tidal wall of annihilation. ”Shit!!!”

Robinʼs eyes flew wide open in pure shock.

This time, the shockwave wasnʼt aimed upward at Althera-it skimmed the ground.

The moment it exited the gate, it erased dozens of meters of terrain, pulverizing the earth itself, striking several beasts and imperial guards alike, reducing everything in its path to chaos.

And it showed no sign of stopping before reaching him.

Bzzzt.

Robin opened an instant space portal beside him and jumped through it-his followers leaping in with him in perfect coordination.

He had absolutely no intention of standing his ground-not against something like that.

DOOOOM.

In the next instant, the attack passed through, erasing the area where he had been standing, continuing forward until it vanished into the horizon-wiping everything in its path as if the world itself were being erased line by line. ”Stop!!”

Althera shouted at the gate, her voice filled with fury and command.

She raised her blade forward, coating it in a dense layer of strange, unnatural energy that warped the space around it, then said coldly-without hesitation: ”Late Regret.”

Then she thrust.

SLAAASH

The thrust passed through the gate and carved a clear, unmistakable wound into the eye of the adult space beast, tearing through its surface and forcing it to blink violently in reflex.

Disturbance.

At that moment, everyone felt their bodies lock in place, as if an invisible force had pinned them to reality itself-even the nascent space beasts were no exception...

The adult space beast was truly enraged.

But-

Something strange happened next.

The injury in its eye suddenly deepened, as if an unseen force had reopened the same wound from within. ”...AAAAAAOO00000000HHHHH--!!!!!”

The scream of the adult space beast erupted from the other side-raw with pain and uncontrollable rage-forcing everyone to instinctively raise their hands to cover their ears.

The sound alone felt like it was tearing through nerves and bones.

All the nascent space beasts dropped to their knees, overwhelmed by the pressure and terror of that roar.

Then-dash-

The wound deepened again by the exact same amount, as if reality itself was replaying the injury. ”AAaaahh-”

This time, the beast shut its eye completely and began to move away, its massive presence retreating from the gate. ”Hmph.”

Althera waved her short sword with a trace of confidence, her posture firm and controlled.

Late Regret is one of the techniques of the Fundamental Repetition Law.

It injects the attack with an enormous amount of condensed energy-energy that is later used to reproduce the same wound multiple times at irregular intervals, without the need for a second strike.

It doesnʼt just deepen the wound; it also creates a powerful psychological distortion in the enemyʼs mind, disrupting their focus and shattering their ability to think clearly about their next move...

Late Regret is such a brutal and cruel technique that even she doesnʼt use it often on her enemies-but this time, she had no other choice.

She then lifted her sword again, drawing in her breath and gathering power, preparing the same attack-this time toward the boundary of the corridor gate itself.

A large portion of her power would collapse, and she would no longer be able to kill the remaining nascent space beasts-most likely, many of them would escape...

But after seeing all this, letting dozens of them escape into the sector was still better than allowing the gate to remain open and continue releasing horrors.

With cold, resolute eyes, Althera began to mutter: ”Late Regre-”

Shwaaaah!

At that moment, fire burst violently from the gate toward Althera-

A strange flame, purple-black in color, thick and viscous like oil, flowing like living darkness. ”Damn it!!”

Althera canceled her attack instantly-it was completely unsuitable for defense -and began to retreat rapidly until she calmed her energy enough to shift her technique to something else.

She then stopped, planting her feet firmly, gripping the hilt of her sword with one hand and the bladeʼs spine with the other, and muttered in a low, focused voice: ”Self-Repetition!”

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

Seven copies of Althera appeared beside her at that moment, their forms identical, their auras perfectly synchronized.

All of them resisted together, forming a massive energy wall that redirected the attack into space-

All of this just to prevent the strike from descending onto the planet and annihilating it.

That was how catastrophic its power truly was.

Then-Shwaaaah!

Before Althera could even catch her breath, another attack surged toward her from the gate.

At the same time-whoosh whoosh-two more space beasts managed to escape from the immense pressure caused by the adult space beast and broke free from the containment zone.

Amid all the chaos, Robin scratched his head with an irritated expression, hist face clearly showing inner conflict as he weighed between two decisions.

Then he slammed his hand down hard. ”Damn it!”

He placed the other hand on his forehead and pulled something out-a glowing purple orb emerged, radiant and pulsating with dense energy.

That radiant sphere rapidly took the form of the Cosmic Elder, who appeared with a wide, casual smile and waved playfully. ”Yo~”

Robin smiled as well and waved back. ”Yo yo~”

Then he pointed behind the Cosmic Elder. ”Say hello over there too.” ”Hm?”

The Cosmic Elderʼs soul shard turned slowly and extended his soul sense toward the gate, his expression shifting from curiosity to focus, then to absolute shock. ”...YOOO?”