Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2196 Irony

”My lady...” Serafina, kneeling beside the coffin, slowly extended her trembling hand and gently brushed Helenʼs hair back with shaking fingers, tears continuously falling from her face onto the edge of the crystal coffin.

She had followed her mistress for more than ten thousand years.

Through prosperity and hardship, poverty and wealth, humiliation and glory, bloodshed and fleeting moments of peace... she had remained beside her through everything without once leaving.

Truthfully... most of those years had been filled with hardship, poverty, and endless bloodshed.

They had wandered from one battlefield to another, hidden from enemies stronger than them, slept in ruined worlds and dying planets, starved together, bled together, and survived disasters that should have erased them countless times over.

Yet despite all of that... they had still been beautiful years to her.

Because Helen had been there.

That alone had made everything worthwhile.

Seeing her in this state now, lying motionless inside a coffin like a dying ember waiting for the last gust of wind to extinguish it...

Just...

Creek

At that moment, the hallʼs massive door was pushed open, and Shadow Sword stepped inside alongside the Royal Soul Master Ziegler Burton, who was dragging the Silent Emperor behind him by the arm with complete indifference.

Ziegler Burton casually swept his eyes across the hall, first toward the crystal coffin, then toward the Silent Emperor beside him, before suddenly letting out an amused chuckle.

19:10

Ziegler Burton casually swept his eyes across the hall, first toward the crystal coffin, then toward the Silent Emperor beside him, before suddenly letting out an amused chuckle.

”Hehe... now we have two.”

”What are you trying to do with him?!” Serafina immediately stood up in alarm, instinctively moving protectively closer to the coffin, fear and hostility filling her face.

The Silent Emperor himself remained completely calm.

His sister was lying half-dead before him, her life hanging by a thread, yet he still stood there silently staring toward the floor with unfocused eyes and a blank expression, detached from reality as though his soul had long since drifted away from the world.

He did not react.

Did not speak.

Did not even blink properly.

”Relax.” Caesar waved his hand lazily before walking closer toward the Silent Emperor. ”Do you really think I protected him for all those centuries just to harm him now?”

Then his expression shifted slightly.

”...What Shadow Sword said about the Big Six noticing something within Helen that even I failed to see caught my interest.”

”That still doesnʼt explain what he has to do with this.” Serafinaʼs voice became colder, more cautious.

Caesar narrowed his eyes slightly.

”...What if we have something here that Iʼve never seen before as well?”

His father had never personally met the Silent Emperor.

At most, he had simply been informed that they possessed an individual suspected to be Hydras, the son of Helmor, who had supposedly died long ago. However, the reports also stated that his mental condition was severely unstable, so his father merely told them to deal with him however they wished and never showed any interest afterward.

Compared to the countless matters occupying his attention, Hydras and his strange illness were insignificant beyond measure.

Every doctor and Royal Soul Master who had examined him reached the same conclusion.

His soul domain was completely intact.

His life vein was healthy.

Even the Syndicate had once forced him to refine one of their dwarf planets, forcing the planetʼs soul itself to acknowledge and accept him.

There was no visible flaw anywhere.

Thus everyone settled on the easiest answer.

Psychological trauma.

And after enough people repeated that answer... everyone simply accepted it as truth.

But...

What if it wasnʼt the truth at all?

”....” Caesar continued staring at the Silent Emperor from head to toe before finally speaking again.

”Lily. Ziegler.”

His tone became serious.

”Iʼm going to attempt something now. Step back and prepare yourselves. If anything feels even remotely out of control...” his eyes narrowed faintly, ”strike me hard enough to knock me unconscious immediately.”

”..?” Ziegler frowned deeply.

”Youʼre planning to use what happened on the battlefield again?” Lily immediately understood, and her expression visibly tightened with tension. ”Thatʼs incredibly dangerous. What if you suffer permanent damage this time?!”

”Thereʼs no need to panic.” Caesar calmly began loosening his gloves. ”It wonʼt be the same as before. Iʼll only use the Eye of Crossing.”

Lily and Ziegler exchanged suspicious glances.

Neither of them actually knew what the Eye of Crossing truly was, but they could clearly tell from Caesarʼs attitude that this was not something ordinary.

Without wasting more time, they immediately obeyed.

Lily gently pulled Serafina farther away from the coffin despite her reluctance, while Ziegler rapidly constructed a small emergency array capable of activating within a fraction of a second if something went wrong.

Only after finishing did he retreat as well.

Meanwhile...

The atmosphere around Caesar slowly began changing.

The air itself became heavier.

Denser.

As though invisible pressure was descending upon the hall.

His eye gradually grew heavier too, while dark veins began surfacing beneath the skin around his face and neck like black cracks spreading through marble.

Then...

He closed his eye.

And the world transformed.

The first thing he saw was Helen.

She lay inside the crystal coffin motionless, her chest devoid of any flame whatsoever.

Yet within her head, the lamp still remained lit.

Barely.

Its dim radiance flickered weakly inside the darkness, surrounded by countless strange markings resembling ancient seals wrapped around it layer after layer.

Then Caesar slowly shifted his gaze away from her.

The handsome Silent Emperor instantly changed within his vision.

His flesh vanished.

His skin disappeared.

What remained was merely a humanoid shape woven from countless threads forming the outline of his body, while a faint flame burned sluggishly between his ribs.

And within his head...

A complete lamp blazed brilliantly.

Caesar exhaled slowly.

Once again, he found nothing obviously wrong.

No damage.

No corruption.

No wounds upon the conditions of life themselves.

Everything appeared completely normal.

Perhaps...

Perhaps it truly was only psychological trauma after all.

”Hmm?”

Suddenly, Caesarʼs pupils contracted slightly.

Something was wrong.

The lampʼs light was unstable.

No...

It was moving.

Violently.

The light inside the lamp twisted and surged repeatedly as though something trapped within was desperately trying to break free.

Trying to escape.

Trying to shatter the lamp from the inside!

Caesarʼs expression slowly changed.

He had activated the Eye of Crossing multiple times before.

The most recent occasion had been upon a battlefield containing millions of soldiers, endless laws, and catastrophic energies colliding from every direction.

Yet never...

Not even once...

Had he seen a lamp behave like this.

”What exactly is happening to you...” Caesar leaned slightly closer, his gaze sharpening intensely.

The power of Death Law circulating through his body suddenly increased.

Disturbance

Black smoke suddenly began leaking from Caesarʼs body.

Thin strands at first.

Then thicker streams.

The smoke rose from beneath his skin, from the corners of his eyes, from the dark veins spreading across his neck and face, carrying with it a suffocating and deeply unpleasant aura that immediately caused the temperature within the hall to plummet.

”Somethingʼs happening!” Outside the immediate area, Ziegler Burton abruptly frowned and tightened his grip over the arrayʼs control mechanism before violently striking the ground beneath him.

Bang!

Several ropes formed entirely from concentrated soul force erupted upward and instantly wrapped around Caesarʼs body, binding his arms, torso, and legs in place before he could even react properly.

At the same time, a small dark hammer materialized above his head, rotating slowly while radiating a strange sleepy aura capable of dragging consciousness straight into forced unconsciousness.

The emergency array had activated.

And it had activated without hesitation.

”Wait!!” Caesarʼs eyes snapped open immediately, his voice exploding through the hall. ”Iʼm still conscious, stop!”

Woosh

The black aura rapidly dispersed.

The dark smoke faded.

Even the soul array itself disassembled immediately after recognizing Caesarʼs condition had stabilized.

The soul ropes loosened and scattered into particles of light, while the floating hammer dissolved into nothingness before descending.

Caesar stood there silently for a brief moment, taking a deep breath before glaring toward the approaching Ziegler.

”Do you want to hit me that badly?!” Caesar shouted irritably while fixing his disheveled clothes. ”You activated the hammer ridiculously fast!”

”I was simply following orders, Marshal.” Ziegler raised both hands calmly in surrender, though he did not look remotely apologetic. ”You specifically instructed us to knock you unconscious the instant something appeared out of control.”

Then he tilted his head slightly.

”Do you want to attempt it again? This time Iʼll delay the hammer a little before activating it... perhaps by a few seconds.”

”Thereʼs no need...” Caesar exhaled slowly while straightening the wrinkles left behind by the soul restraints. ”I already saw enough...”

Those brief fractions of a second had been more than sufficient.

By increasing the output of Death Law at the last instant, he had managed to pierce deeper into the Silent Emperorʼs state than before.

Far deeper.

”What did you see?” Serafina stepped forward almost immediately, descending beside him with visibly unstable breathing. ”Whatʼs wrong with him?”

Her voice trembled heavily.

Fear.

Hope.

Panic.

All mixed together.

”....” Caesar remained silent for a moment while organizing the information in his mind.

Then he finally spoke.

”His initial soul still exists within his soul domain...” Caesar slowly narrowed his eyes, ”but itʼs no longer connected to it.”

The hall fell silent.

”Itʼs desperately trying to escape,” he continued calmly, ”but the soul domain surrounding it has been preserved too perfectly. Instead of nurturing and protecting the soul, itʼs functioning like a sealed prison now, trapping it inside.”

”...?!” Serafinaʼs eyes widened violently. ”His initial soul is disconnected?! Does that mean...”

”That heʼs dead by natural standards.” Caesar nodded without hesitation. ”His body is technically functional. His soul domain remains stable. His life vein is intact.” Then his expression darkened slightly. ”But none of those things matter anymore.”

He slowly crossed his arms.

”The person himself is gone.”

Silence spread once more.

”Heʼs essentially a corpse whose systems continue functioning independently.” Caesar glanced toward the Silent Emperor, who still stood there staring downward absentmindedly. ”Which means whoever fought him during his final battle was a terrifyingly powerful soul master to produce a result like this.”

Then he suddenly seemed to think of something amusing.

”Actually...” he let out a faint chuckle, ”perhaps the Syndicate realized his condition long ago.”

Serafina immediately looked toward him sharply.

”They probably tried to exploit the fact he was technically still alive for negotiations or blackmail purposes,” Caesar continued casually, ”but eventually failed to gain anything useful from him, so they decided to get rid of the problem by selling him off to us for an absurd amount instead.”

Then his gaze shifted between Helen and Hydras.

And his smile deepened faintly.

”Donʼt you find it amusing?” he asked softly. ”The brother and sister are both dead... yet in completely opposite ways.”

He pointed lightly toward Helen.

”Her body is dead, yet her soul stubbornly refuses to disappear.”

Then toward Hydras.

”Meanwhile his soul is dead, yet his body continues standing here like an abandoned shell.”

Caesar shook his head slowly in disbelief.

”They are both dead, and despite all that...” his eyes narrowed slightly, ”both of them still cling to our world through entirely different methods.”

Then he laughed quietly.

”What persistence.”

”...This isnʼt funny!” Serafinaʼs voice cracked sharply as she looked toward the two siblings with overwhelming grief and helplessness in her eyes.

Caesar observed her for a moment before nodding lightly.

”Perhaps.”

Then he turned his entire body toward her.

”Iʼll give you an offer.” His tone became calm and deliberate. ”And an opportunity.”

Serafina immediately focused completely on him.

”Give me the Pit of Destruction Empire,” Caesar said directly, ”and Iʼll allow you to remain here beside Helen and Hydras permanently.”

Then he continued evenly.

”Youʼll protect them.”

”And no one within this place will interfere with how you do it.”

”...What do you think?”

”Agreed!” Serafina answered instantly without even the slightest pause.

No hesitation.

No negotiation.

Nothing.

The Empire of the Pit of Destruction belonged to her mistress originally. She had merely maintained it until Helenʼs eventual return. Even if the empire had already expanded to nearly thirty planets under her management, it still meant absolutely nothing compared to remaining beside her mistress here.

Caesar stared at her silently for a brief moment.

Then he nodded slowly.

”Good...”

His eyes drifted once more toward Helen and Hydras.

Toward the dead sister whose soul refused to leave.

And the dead brother whose body refused to collapse.

”Perhaps Iʼll come visit from time to time as well...” Caesar murmured quietly.

Then a nearly invisible smile appeared upon his face as he muttered under his breath,

”...they are extraordinarily important guests.”