Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2210 The corner

”Ahh...” Robinʼs pupils abruptly contracted before expanding again as his mouth slowly opened in disbelief.

The shard of the Cosmic Elderʼs soul was not responding.

Not reacting.

Not even trembling.

It still existed within his soul domain exactly where it had always been, yet at this moment it resembled nothing more than an ancient stone abandoned in silence for millions upon millions of years. The soul units composing the shard itself appeared petrified, frozen in place like dead matter incapable of transmitting even the faintest trace of will or consciousness.

Completely lifeless.

For a single horrifying instant, Robinʼs thoughts nearly blanked out.

Because this shard...

This single fragment...

Had been the foundation supporting nearly all of his confidence since entering this place.

Because of the security he felt from its existence, Robin had dared experiment with entirely new combat methods against overwhelming enemies. Because of it, he had activated the Doomsday Furnace Array while surrounded by twenty adult space beasts without fearing total annihilation.

Because of this shard, he had even dared stand before an Ancestor space beast and speak as though they were equals seated at a negotiation table.

Because he had believed with absolute certainty that the Cosmic Elder would save him no matter how disastrous the situation became.

The Cosmic Elder was not like the All-Seeing god.

When it came to enemies of life itself, the Cosmic Elder would never hesitate, never negotiate, never impose absurd conditions or tests before acting. He would immediately erase such existences from reality.

That was the image Robin held of him.

That was the certainty supporting his courage.

...Or perhaps, Robin realized now, that certainty had only ever existed inside his own head.

”...” Robin slowly shifted his gaze sideways toward the Ancestor space beast.

At this moment, he felt like a child who had loudly bragged moments earlier before suddenly realizing his parent was no longer standing behind him.

No.

Even worse.

He looked like a child too embarrassed to admit he had wet himself after boasting confidently moments earlier.

Just seconds ago, he had shouted at the Ancestor space beast not to blame him.

And now the beast was still patiently staring at him.

Waiting.

Not attacking.

Not moving.

Simply waiting to see what he would do next.

”...You are fortunate.” Robin clasped both hands behind his back and forced himself to stand straighter despite the violent twitching veins across his forehead. ”The Cosmic Elder is currently occupied killing another Ancestor space beast elsewhere and is slightly busy at the moment.” He even coughed lightly afterward to steady his tone. ”Ahem... he said he would come eliminate you immediately after finishing there. If I were you, I would leave now. You would not survive standing in his presence.”

Inside, Robin nearly screamed.

Questions had already begun exploding through his mind uncontrollably.

What happened to the shard?

What happened to the Cosmic Elder himself?

Could something actually suppress a fragment of his soul like this?

Was he alive?

Was he injured?

Was he...

Robin forcibly cut off that final thought before it could fully form.

None of those questions mattered right now.

He first needed to remain alive long enough to ask them.

”...”

The crimson eyes tilted ever so slightly.

Nearby, Blokan slowly turned toward Asir and Althera with a suffocated expression, his bulging eyes practically screaming that Robin had finally gone insane and was gambling with every single one of their lives.

Yet despite the panic boiling inside him, he could not utter even a single word.

He did not dare.

None of them dared.

Rumble

Another suppressive wave erupted outward from the Ancestor.

Robin instantly felt a crushing force slam into his body, pushing him backward several meters.

This attack was nowhere near strong enough to kill him.

That was precisely what made it humiliating.

The Ancestor space beast was not trying to destroy him.

It was treating him like an insect.

Like a tiny creature being casually flicked aside by the tip of a finger.

Pain surged through Robinʼs bones and organs, yet he forcibly maintained his posture.

”You are gambling with your lifespan!!” Robin shouted angrily, though the faint trembling in one of his hands betrayed the instability hidden beneath his act. ”Even if the Cosmic Elder is occupied, we still have Sevar and Athena! Any one of the three could grind you into paste, so stop overestimating yourself!!”

The moment those words left his mouth, Robin felt embarrassed with himself.

Utterly embarrassed.

He, Robin Burton...

Was literally borrowing the name of his mortal enemy to threaten another.

Rumble

Another suppressive wave struck him again.

The pressure shoved him backward dismissively once more, almost lazily, as though the Ancestor was openly mocking his threats and telling him to do whatever he was capable of.

”You... rotten beast, you have no idea who stands before you!!”

Morgana finally broke.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she suddenly rushed toward Robin without hesitation.

She understood him better than almost anyone else.

She knew the extent of his pride.

The terrifying stubbornness hidden beneath his calm smiles.

The self-respect that refused humiliation even before death itself.

And what was happening right now...

What he was enduring right now...

He was undoubtedly being torn apart internally.

That realization completely drowned out her own fear.

”...My Lord?”

Yet her speed gradually slowed before stopping completely.

Because Robin was smiling at her.

Not bitterly.

Not desperately.

Calmly.

Gently.

He silently gestured for her to stop.

Then he turned back toward the Ancestor space beast with that same composed smile still remaining on his face.

”...It is safe to say you understand me by now.” The veins bulging across his forehead slowly faded away, while the trembling in his hand disappeared entirely as though it had never existed. ”So allow me to introduce myself properly.”

Rumble

Another wave of pressure slammed into him mockingly, forcing him backward again.

Robin nearly lost his footing this time.

Yet somehow, barely somehow, he maintained his smile.

”I am Robin Burton...” His voice remained calm despite the invisible pressure crushing down upon him repeatedly. ”...a small researcher pursuing glory through his research.”

Rumble

”Even before taking the first true step upon my path, I experienced suppression beyond imagination...” Robin continued while enduring another surge of pressure crashing against him. ”Attempts at exploitation. Attempts at murder. Attempts at ridicule.”

His smile gradually deepened slightly.

”To the point that I eventually established my own empire and became stronger.”

Rumble

”...Much stronger.”

Every wave striking Robin caused Morganaʼs body to tremble violently.

By now she had both hands pressed tightly over her mouth while tears poured endlessly down her face.

Each time the Ancestor casually struck her lord aside like this...

It felt as though a knife was being stabbed directly into her heart again and again.

”Do you know why I chose the path of power, you beast?” Robin slowly raised his head, his voice calm at first, yet carrying a heaviness capable of sinking directly into the soul. ”Because one day I asked myself a simple question... what glory would I truly gain while living in humiliation? What value is there in people saying Robin created this, Robin invented that, Robin changed the world... while another man tramples on my head? While another laughs at me? While another decides whether I live or die with a flick of his hand?”

The golden glow within his eyes flickered violently.

Then he slowly shook his head.

”No...” His voice lowered further. ”That kind of glory is worthless to me. Silence and disappearing within the cracks of history would be better... more honorable.”

Distor—

The Ancestor space beast suddenly narrowed its crimson eyes.

The suppressive wave rushing toward Robin vanished midway.

Completely.

The surrounding void trembled slightly from the abrupt interruption, as though even the dimension itself had not expected the pressure to disappear so suddenly.

Then the crimson eyes slowly widened once more.

Because something had appeared.

A golden scale.

It materialized soundlessly at first, emerging from thin air beside Robin like an ancient concept taking physical form. Its surface glowed with ancient golden radiance, incomparably pure, while strange symbols continuously shifted across its body like flowing laws.

Riiiiiing

The right side of the scale suddenly dropped downward.

And at that exact instant, the suppressive pressure surrounding Robin completely vanished.

”Listen to me carefully!!”

Robinʼs voice exploded outward across the void like thunder.

DOOOOOOOOM

Beside the golden scale, another eruption of light burst forth violently.

Golden radiance twisted, compressed, and transformed repeatedly until it finally solidified into the shape of a massive gear with a broken tooth.

The moment it stabilized, the surrounding space began producing sharp grinding noises, as though invisible machinery had suddenly started turning somewhere deep within reality itself.

”I am fully aware that I am not yet at the level of those three...” Robin spoke while staring directly into the crimson eyes without retreating even half a step. ”...but—”

The golden light inside Robinʼs eyes intensified explosively.

Brighter.

Brighter.

Brighter still.

Until his pupils vanished completely beneath the overwhelming radiance.

Then golden patterns began spreading across his body.

Countless intricate symbols emerged from beneath his skin before compressing and disappearing, only for new engravings to immediately replace them at terrifying speed. They spread across his neck, his face, his arms, and even beneath his clothes, transforming his body into something resembling a living scripture carved from divine light.

Hummmmmm

Beside the scale and the broken gear, another phenomenon emerged.

A serpent.

A massive golden serpent slowly coiled into existence before biting its own tail.

The instant the circular serpent completed itself, the surrounding void distorted violently for several kilometers, as though the flow of existence itself had momentarily become unstable.

”...If you insist on killing me today...” Robinʼs voice deepened further while the aura around him continuously rose. ”...then understand something clearly first.”

KRRRRRK

Another object appeared.

Beside the scale.

Beside the broken gear.

Beside the serpent devouring its own tail.

A cube marked with uneven, irrational lines slowly manifested within the void.

The lines upon its surface shifted constantly in impossible directions, refusing all logic and symmetry, making anyone who stared at it for too long feel as though their thoughts were being dragged apart.

”...I will not die before taking half your life with me.”

”Ah... ahhh...”

Blokan involuntarily staggered backward.

Altheraʼs breathing became chaotic.

Even Asir instinctively retreated several steps.

All three had finally broken free from the suffocating terror imposed by the Ancestor space beast, yet what replaced that fear was not relief.

It was disbelief.

Absolute disbelief.

Their eyes remained fixed upon the four symbols surrounding Robin while their minds desperately attempted to comprehend what they were witnessing.

Because none of this...

None of these manifestations...

Had ever been recorded in the history of the universe.

Even the surrounding space beasts began retreating while releasing low, agonized cries, as though the mere radiance emitted by the symbols was scorching their flesh and souls simultaneously.

Some of the weaker beasts collapsed outright.

Others buried themselves against the void itself in panic.

FROOOOOOOOM

A monstrous quantity of soul units suddenly surged into Robinʼs contracts like a collapsing ocean.

The incoming soul force became so dense that it formed visible streams of golden-white light spiraling around Robinʼs body before transforming into a terrifying aura that shook the dimension itself.

Then...

Another symbol appeared.

A closed eye.

A gigantic golden eye slowly emerged from Robinʼs forehead before ascending upward into the void above him.

Unlike the other symbols, this one radiated a pressure so profound that the surrounding darkness itself seemed to recoil away from it instinctively.

A closed eye burning with endless golden radiance, as though it existed solely to illuminate the eternal void.

And despite remaining closed...

The space beasts retreated even farther the instant it appeared.

The higher the eye ascended, the larger it became.

The larger it became, the greater the pressure flooding the dimension.

Soon it rose above the four symbols entirely, overlooking them from above like a ruler seated upon its rightful throne.

At this point, Robinʼs appearance had become almost frightening.

Golden engravings raced endlessly across his body.

His eyes glowed with blood-red fury hidden beneath divine golden light.

His aura distorted the surrounding void continuously.

And yet...

He still stood there smiling faintly.

Then Robin slowly opened his mouth while grinding his teeth hard enough to draw blood.

”...If you wish to kill me today...”

His voice echoed throughout the dimension like an oath sworn against fate itself.

”...then I will not go alone.”

Then he slowly raised one hand.

The surrounding soul force immediately spiraled violently toward his fingertips.

And with cold fury filling every syllable, Robin spoke.

Oooooooooom

The gigantic golden eye opened.