Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2235: Honestly

Thud

Althera landed heavily on the edge of the cliff, only a few steps away from Robin.

She was dressed in snow-white robes stained with patches of black blood, while her hand remained wrapped around the hilt of her short sword. Blood dripped steadily from its blade onto the ground below, blood that clung to the rocks like tar, bubbling and boiling as though alive, eating into the mountain stone as if it were molten lava. Small wisps of smoke rose wherever the droplets landed, and even the nearby air carried the faint scent of corrosion left behind by the strange blood.

After landing, Althera slowly raised her head until her eyes met Robin’s.

For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

The sounds of battle continued in the distance, beasts roaring, arrays humming, and explosions shaking the sea below, yet the two seemed entirely focused on one another.

"You’ve regained consciousness. That’s good."

"Thank you." Robin showed a faint smile. "You seem to be doing well too. Your face looks brighter today."

"...?" Althera stared at him in confusion.

Brighter?

Her face had never looked more grim, exhausted, or dark than it did at this very moment.

Three months of nearly uninterrupted combat had left traces that even someone of her cultivation could not completely hide. Her eyes carried fatigue, her expression was permanently cold, and the murderous aura surrounding her had only grown denser with time.

Yet Robin spoke as though he were looking at an entirely different person.

Without waiting for a response, Robin ignored her confusion and slowly turned toward the people beside him.

"I need a representative from the Grave Empire to be present with us today."

"Understood." Holak nodded, then gestured toward Malik, who immediately bowed before disappearing from sight.

As for Robin, he soon returned to silently observing the battlefield.

From the moment he had stepped out of his residence until now, a large number of Space Beasts had already been killed.

Three newly recruited Imperial Guards had also lost their lives.

And yet the battlefield had barely changed.

An enormous number of nascent Space Beasts had crossed through the gate, while several assaults led by juvenile and adult beasts had entered alongside them, harvesting casualties wherever they struck and repeatedly forcing the defenders into desperate battles.

In practical terms, the battlefield had already returned to square one.

This was what had been happening for the entire past three months.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Every gain bought with blood was eventually erased by another incoming wave.

Every cleared section was filled once more.

Every victory was followed by another battle.

The defenders survived.

That was all.

No matter how many beasts they killed, the gate continued producing more.

No matter how many victories they achieved, the war itself remained unchanged.

"Hey!"

Althera’s voice pierced through the atmosphere and pulled Robin’s attention away from the battlefield.

"Hmm?" Robin raised an eyebrow slightly.

"...What are you planning to do about Asir’s family?" Althera spoke with tremendous restraint. "No one knows he’s dead yet... the Silent Farewell never echoed through the universe after his death."

"..." Robin nodded. "I expected something like that. The Laws responsible for the Silent Farewell do not exist within the Sea of Void." Then he smiled at her. "But which family are you talking about? As far as I know, Asir has neither a wife nor children."

"His family in the Time Galaxy, obviously!" Althera’s voice rose slightly. "They deserve to know what happened. They deserve to appreciate what he did and mourn him!"

"If they cared about him, he wouldn’t have ended up joining a Star Academy in the first place." Robin shook his head. "Even if they learned that he died fighting a Space Beast, they would do nothing more than nod and say that’s unfortunate before continuing with their day as usual. That’s assuming anyone even remembers him well enough to feel sorry."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Althera took a step forward. "Asir threw his life away for nothing? Everyone betrayed him and left him to die, yet nobody will mourn him? Is that justice?!"

"And who exactly is this ’everyone’ that betrayed him? ...Althera, is there something you’d like to say to me?"

Robin revealed a faint smile.

A meaningful smile.

A smile that made several people nearby quietly look away.

"Surely you aren’t talking about yourself, who fled in fright the moment the Executioner looked your way. And you certainly aren’t talking about Blokan, who used every defensive technique he knew and curled up behind them. Nor Morgana, who didn’t even understand what was happening at the time. And of course you don’t mean the weaker Royal Soul Masters."

His gaze remained fixed on her.

"We can also exclude my Soul Creature, Arkalon, since he relies on arrays and wouldn’t have been able to do anything against a creature like that anyway."

Then he pointed at himself.

"That only leaves me."

Althera slowly lifted her chin and lowered her voice.

"...You’re the one who said it, not me."

"Have you lost your goddamn mind, woman?!" Caesar raised his voice. "The man standing before you is a hero unlike any this universe has ever seen! He fought a Space Beast ancestor alone and forced her to retreat, and somehow he ends up being a traitor? A traitor to whom? Every honorable person and every traitor in this universe is still alive because of him, and every one of us standing here today owes him a debt that can never truly be repaid!"

"What did you say to me?!" Althera’s aura erupted with fury.

The surrounding air instantly grew heavier.

Several nearby guards stiffened instinctively, while a few weaker cultivators unconsciously took a step backward.

"Shh—" Robin slowly raised a hand in front of Caesar. "She is older than you, Caesar, and she surpasses you in both status and strength. Do not speak to her like that."

"...." Caesar glared at Althera with anger before looking away and directing his words to his father. "I apologize for interfering."

His apology sounded forced.

It was obvious he regretted neither the interruption nor the words themselves.

"Hmph!" Althera released a harsh breath. "You should teach your children better manners, Robin."

"Robin without titles?" Robin raised a single eyebrow. "It seems you’ve truly gone mad. Caesar wasn’t wrong."

"You!!!"

Althera exploded with anger, extending a finger toward Robin, yet for several seconds she found herself unable to say anything at all.

The words reached her throat.

Then stopped there.

Because despite her fury, she knew exactly how much she had already crossed the line.

The surrounding Imperial Guards exchanged uneasy looks.

Even Holak quietly rubbed his chin and chose not to interfere.

"...."

"Althera... you’re heading down a path that’s difficult to return from." Robin sighed. "How can you look at me like this when you were there? You saw everything from beginning to end. You witnessed what happened, and you understand the condition I was in during those final moments."

Then he slowly raised both hands.

"Look at me now, three months after that moment."

His movements were calm.

Slow.

Almost indifferent.

Then he let his hands fall heavily against his thighs.

Thud.

"How can you look at me like this and say that I betrayed him? That word carries weight, Althera. It isn’t a word meant for me."

"Stop acting." Althera waved a hand sharply. "Blokan, Morgana, and I were too weak to do anything against the Executioner. But you proved that you could."

Then she pointed toward Caesar while never taking her eyes off Robin.

"If this loud-mouthed brat had been in Asir’s place, would you have abandoned him to his fate as well?"

Then her voice rose.

Higher.

Sharper.

Filled with emotions she had clearly been suppressing for months.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn’t have risked your life to save him!!"

"Tch."

Caesar spat to the side in anger before turning toward his father.

"Allow me to answer her!"

"No need."

Robin smiled.

A tired smile.

A smile carrying traces of sadness and regret.

The sort of smile that appeared only when a person was confronted with something they had already asked themselves countless times.

Because Althera had struck the most sensitive nerve possible.

She had asked the very same question that had crossed his own mind only moments ago.

He had expected her to be angry because he opened the gate.

Or because he had not ordered everyone to retreat sooner.

Or because he had chosen to remain and fight instead of escaping.

Those accusations would have been easy.

Simple.

He could have explained himself.

He could have justified every decision.

He could have convinced her without hurting her feelings.

But this...

This was different.

This was the one question he could not sidestep.

The one wound that had never fully closed.

The one possibility that every survivor secretly wondered about when they remembered Asir’s death.

And the cruelest part was that the answer would hurt her far more than it would hurt him.

Because the person she was truly accusing was not Robin.

It was herself.

She simply had not realized it yet.

Robin slowly raised his head.

His gaze remained steady.

There was no hesitation in it.

No attempt to soften the answer.

No effort to hide behind diplomacy.

"You’re right. If Caesar had been in Asir’s place, I would have risked my life to kill the Executioner before she ever reached him. What exactly is the problem with that?"

"...."