Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2268 Power

”Haahhh!!!” Altheraʼs eyes flew open and she gasped in terror, her chest rising and falling violently as though she had just escaped drowning, then threw her hands behind her and dragged herself toward the corner of the bed with hurried, panicked movements that lacked all of her usual composure.

Her entire body was trembling violently.

She had experienced a torment she had never imagined could exist, a kind of suffering she would never have believed possible no matter how far her imagination stretched or how many tales of the ancients she had read. Compared to that pain, every injury she had suffered throughout her life suddenly seemed insignificant and distant.

The pain was gone. Physically, she no longer felt anything. Yet its effects remained. She could still feel her soul being torn apart just as it had been in that moment, as though the memory itself had become a living wound that had yet to heal, one that reopened every time her thoughts drifted back toward those horrifying six seconds.

As the memory of the pain resurfaced, Althera reached out and grabbed the short sword that had always made her feel safe and grounded. She pulled it close and hugged her knees against her chest with both arms, then lowered her gaze, her eyes brimming with tears that she could no longer suppress despite her efforts to remain calm.

”What happened... why did this happen to me...” Althera muttered painfully for several minutes, her voice hoarse and uncertain as she repeatedly searched for an explanation that refused to come.

She could sense strange things occurring around her. She felt a vague unease whose source she could not identify. She sensed a golden illumination somewhere within the Glass House. Yet she paid little attention to any of it, because none of it affected her significantly. She assumed it was merely a lingering aftereffect of the shock she had endured, another symptom left behind by the nightmare she had just survived.

”He...” Althera whispered. ”Heʼll know the answer if I ask him...”

Robinʼs image immediately appeared in her mind.

Not the Elder Cosmic.

Not the archives filled with stories of the ancients.

Only him.

”Yes.” Althera lifted her head, and a trace of hope returned to her eyes, pushing away some of the fear that had been consuming her. ”Heʼll definitely know!”

Then she quickly stood upon the bed, enthusiasm returning to her face as most traces of pain and collapse that had controlled her moments earlier vanished, replaced by determination and a renewed sense of purpose.

Their last meeting had been tense.

She had allowed her feelings of helplessness at the moment of her deputyʼs death to cloud her judgment and distort her reasoning. She had assumed Robin would try to comfort her, but she had been wrong and learned that lesson the hard way, discovering instead that he was the type of person who dealt with wounds by facing them rather than softening them.

A person who had fought the Executioner and pushed calamity away from the universe did not need to comfort anyone. Judging from his appearance and condition at the time, he was the one who needed comfort more than anyone else, yet he had continued moving forward regardless.

She had possessed more than enough time to think during the past month.

”Hoo~” Althera released a long breath and gently jumped down from the bed, her emotions settling considerably as she organized her thoughts.

Talking about that strange experience would make their next meeting easier, and while she was at it, she could ask whether it was possible to attempt another breakthrough after the first had failed. Besides—

BAAAAAAM

”Huh?” Althera stared downward in shock.

There was a crater in the floor.

She had jumped gracefully while suppressing all of her strength. She had not even released an aura or entered a combat state. Yet the stone floor of the Glass House had cracked apart, and the entire structure had actually sunk slightly under the force transferred into it, producing a deep rumble that echoed throughout the surrounding area.

”What in the...” Althera bent slightly and extended her right hand to examine the fracture, wondering whether she had somehow misjudged the amount of force she had used.

Then her already widened eyes widened even further.

Her right hand was holding the short sword by the middle of its sheath.

And at the moment she looked at it, she saw something unbelievable.

The short sword had been crushed.

The weapon she had used to kill Young Space Beasts without damaging it, a Fourth Grade Planetary Armament she had inherited as a precious legacy, had been completely compressed as though she had been holding a paper bag rather than a piece of equipment forged to withstand the powers of Monarchs. The metal had folded inward from every direction, its shape ruined beyond recognition.

Clang

Althera let the sword fall to the ground and took two steps backward in shock. Then she raised both hands and pressed them against her head as though trying to wake herself from a strange dream, desperately hoping reality would reassert itself.

But she did not wake up.

Bam. Bam.

And with every step Althera took backward, a small fracture appeared in the floor beneath her feet, spreading outward in delicate patterns despite her attempts to move as lightly as possible.

”What is happening...” Althera lowered her hands and began inspecting them in alarm. ”I feel... power?”

Craaack

The moment Althera clenched her hand into a fist and heard the cracking sound, and saw space itself distort around her as though struggling to withstand the pressure gathering in her grasp, a strange feeling overtook her.

Power.

Immense power.

Power that a Low-Level Monarch should not possess.

No, not even a High-Level Monarch should possess it.

Power...

With this power, if she were to face the Executioner again, if she were placed in that situation once more, if that battlefield were recreated exactly as before and she stood before that terrifying enemy once again...

Althera tightened her fist further, excitement rising uncontrollably within her as her breathing quickened and her eyes began to shine with a fierce light she had not displayed since before Asirʼs death.

BOOOOOOOOM.

Space exploded around Althera, and the Elder Cosmicʼs personal Glass House was reduced to rubble. Everything inside it shot off in different directions and was never seen again, scattered by the shockwave as though the structure had never existed in the first place. Stone, furniture, defensive formations, decorations, and every remaining trace of the residence were swept away by the sudden release of force.

”Ha ha..”

Althera began laughing in disbelief, her voice carrying a mixture of shock, relief, and exhilaration.

”Ha ha.. Hahahaha!!!”

Then she raised her other hand and clenched it into a fist as well, eager to confirm that what she was feeling was real and not merely some lingering illusion caused by the strange breakthrough.

Baaang

The fractures beneath her intensified, spreading farther across the damaged ground as waves of pressure rippled outward from her position.

”Hehe, what happened... that coincidence gave me power beyond anything that exists!”

Then she ground her teeth together and raised her head toward the heavens with a dreamy, ambitious smile, her eyes shining with emotions she had not felt in a very long time. The despair, helplessness, and grief that had weighed upon her heart for months seemed to retreat before the intoxicating sensation flowing through her body.

”At last I can take my revenge, at last I can guide the universe the way I believe is right, at last I can—”

Oooooomnn—

She saw something strange...

A golden sky.

An enormous eye she recognized immediately.

Four massive symbols connected to it in a familiar arrangement as well.

It was the formation Lord Robin had used to battle the Executioner and force her retreat, a sight that had already carved itself deeply into the memories of everyone who had witnessed that battle.

But something was different...

All of them...

Why did all of them seem stronger?

The excitement on Altheraʼs face gradually settled, replaced by concentration as she carefully observed the phenomenon.

The aura of the symbols did not make her wish to kneel, nor did it strike her spiritually, yet she could clearly feel power, tremendous power without the slightest doubt, power that seemed deeper, purer, and more complete than what she remembered. Even from this distance, every symbol appeared more stable, more majestic, and more authoritative than before.

And this...

Was this Fifth Grade Master Spacetime?

Fifth Grade?!

The thought itself sent a shiver through her mind.

”Five Master Laws working together beneath a single personʼs banner...” Althera muttered with a calm smile, her voice no longer filled with excitement but with genuine admiration. ”THIS... is power.”

Althera could feel it...

Those symbols undoubtedly belonged to Lord Robin, and in that state Lord Robin was stronger than her, even if she felt the gap between them was not impossibly vast. She could vaguely sense where she stood relative to him, and that realization brought neither frustration nor disappointment.

Her expression became calm.

For some reason, she felt neither jealousy nor anger that Lord Robin was stronger than her.

It simply seemed...

Correct.

The way things were supposed to be.

Oooooom

”Hmm?”

At that moment, Althera noticed something strange.

The sky, which looked like a vast pool of golden water stretching endlessly in every direction, began rippling as though someone had thrown an enormous stone into it. Massive waves spread across the golden surface, disturbing its previously flawless stillness.

Then a mass of golden light emerged from within it and began moving erratically, twisting around itself in a bizarre fashion until it took the shape of a chaotic cloud. Then crackkk—a bolt of golden lightning descended from the heavens above it and split the cloud apart before beginning to flow through it, illuminating its interior with countless branching currents.

That cloud rapidly grew larger and increasingly chaotic, wild, and domineering, while golden currents of energy churned endlessly within it. The more it expanded, the more it resembled a living storm attempting to take shape before her eyes.

As for the four symbols surrounding the eye, they began to move, though neither toward the cloud nor away from it. Instead, they shifted slightly closer to one another, making room for the thundercloud to settle upon the same level as themselves. Their movements were slow and deliberate, as though they were acknowledging the cloudʼs right to stand beside them.

Afterward, a new eyelash emerged from the enormous golden eye and quietly connected itself to the thundercloud. The connection formed naturally and effortlessly, as though the cloud had always belonged there and was merely taking its proper place within the formation.

Bang.

Althera dropped to her knees.