Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2273: Dead man

"..."

The golden blade descended upon the head of Robin’s manifestation of fate with a smooth and absolute motion, carrying within it countless years of mastery, certainty, and confidence born from a power that had erased innumerable enemies before they ever understood what had happened.

Swooosh

With complete ease and without encountering the slightest resistance, the golden blade split the manifestation into two identical halves, as though it were cutting through an illusion incapable of defending itself against the authority contained within Fate Severance.

Before the Archon’s eyes, one half began tilting toward the left while the other tilted toward the right, both seemingly beginning the inevitable process of collapse and destruction that always followed such an attack.

Pffft

Sevar spat out a mouthful of blood and took two steps backward before dropping onto one knee, the backlash traveling through his body and spreading across his internal organs before finally forcing its way out.

Yet he showed neither pain nor anger. Instead, he calmly wiped the blood away, a broad smile spreading across his face as though the injuries were insignificant compared to the result he had achieved.

"Unexpected... Cutting a fate of this magnitude only resulted in internal injuries and a minor restriction? Heh~ You’ve grown far too quickly, Robin Burton, so quickly that your foundations were remarkably easy to uproot, far too soft to withstand destruction. Hehe."

His greatest threat...

Was finished.

The threats posed by Qarun, Intiras, and Morpheus were hidden, indirect threats that could be handled through the proper methods at the proper time, threats that relied on schemes, preparations, influence, and developments that stretched across long periods of time.

Robin Burton was different.

It was obvious that he possessed a mission to kill him.

It was obvious that he had been prepared through every possible means to accomplish that task swiftly, efficiently, and without allowing Sevar enough time to react once the final confrontation arrived.

The Seer could no longer tolerate Sevar remaining alive, apparently.

Was killing Robin Burton worth suffering a restriction on the Sixth Grade of Causality for several months and enduring internal injuries?

Absolutely.

The power displayed by Robin Burton’s manifestation of fate gave the impression that only he and Marlik could defeat him in a direct confrontation, and even that conclusion carried a degree of uncertainty that Sevar found deeply unpleasant.

But if Sevar had personally gone to kill him through means other than Fate Severance, through a method that would not seriously injure himself and would preserve more of his strength, the Elder Cosmic might have stepped forward to protect him the moment the battle began.

And even if it were only a fragment of the Elder Cosmic, only a lingering remnant of that terrifying existence rather than the complete being, it would still provide Robin Burton with an opportunity to escape beyond his reach.

And if someone this dangerous escaped...

He would never be caught again.

That was without even considering the consequences of entering direct hostility with the Elder Cosmic, a confrontation whose outcome could not be predicted even by someone as confident in causality as Sevar.

Thus, severing his fate and enduring the consequences was the safest solution available, the cleanest path toward eliminating a threat that had grown beyond acceptable limits...

But he had never expected the backlash to be this light!

"Hmm. My comprehension of Causality has apparently reached the peak of the Sixth Grade. Perhaps I’ve been underestimating myself too much."

Sevar rose calmly and brushed the dust from his knee with a confident smile, his mood improving considerably as he considered the implications of how little he had suffered in exchange for such a result.

"The side distraction is over. It’s time to focus on the others..."

"Hmm?"

That smile quickly faded.

The two halves of Robin’s manifestation had not fallen.

Instead, they remained frozen in place exactly where they were, suspended in the air as though some unseen force had halted the natural progression of events.

Even the feeling of threat remained.

The flickering was still there.

Nothing had disappeared.

Not the pressure.

Not the hostility.

Not the strange instability surrounding the manifestation.

"What is happening?"

Sevar stepped toward the manifestation once again, confusion appearing in his eyes as his confidence began to crack ever so slightly beneath the weight of something he could not immediately explain.

This was not supposed to happen.

He had used Fate Severance countless times before, against weak enemies, powerful enemies, hidden enemies, and enemies whose names had once shaken entire regions of the universe.

It was an ability he had obtained from the Third Grade of Causality, one he had employed so frequently that it had become his favorite technique, and his mastery of it had reached such a terrifying level that he could kill any Behemoth with it while remaining seated where he was, needing nothing more than a sufficient connection and a clear target.

It was exactly what its name implied.

It erased the existence of a person’s fate from the circle of causality, severing the foundation upon which all future developments, possibilities, and outcomes were built.

What did that mean?

According to Robin’s current natural path, he was destined to influence the lives of countless individuals spread across innumerable worlds and civilizations, destined to reach unimaginable heights of power that ordinary cultivators could scarcely comprehend, destined to become a great Emperor whose words would affect the universe itself and whose decisions would ripple through the destinies of entire races. That was the chain of fate awaiting him without fail, a future so massive that even a glance at it was enough to make lesser users of Causality feel overwhelmed.

What if all of that suddenly vanished?

What if Robin possessed no fate within the gears of causality? What if the Master Law itself treated him as though he did not exist, refusing to acknowledge him as a valid component within the structure that governed the flow of destiny?

How could he continue influencing all those people and altering their destinies if he did not exist? How could countless threads remain connected to someone whom causality itself refused to recognize?

In that case, the Master Law of Causality itself would move to eliminate the variable. The Master Law would take it upon itself to hurl catastrophe after catastrophe at such a person, manipulating circumstances, probabilities, coincidences, and disasters until he was erased as quickly as possible, allowing the destinies connected to that variable to correct themselves and permitting the universe to continue along its intended course without suffering instability.

When a person’s fate was severed, their manifestation faded away or their threads disappeared, and sooner or later they died. Sometimes death came immediately, sometimes it arrived after a series of disasters, but the result never changed.

It was an unavoidable fate, a conclusion that countless victims had already proven over the ages.

But that was not what was happening...

Robin’s manifestation was still there, existing before his eyes as clearly as ever despite everything that should have occurred.

It was still flickering.

It was still threatening.

Then something strange happened...

Voom. Voom.

The two severed halves began moving toward one another.

Tendrils emerged from both sections and started searching for their missing counterparts with an almost instinctive determination, stretching outward and weaving through the air until they found one another.

And when they did, Robin’s manifestation returned to being whole and perfect, every crack disappearing instantly as though nothing had happened at all, as though the severing had never taken place.

"Wha... what?!" Sevar shouted in astonishment and irritation, his voice echoing throughout the cave. "How?!"

The first reaction that crossed his mind was to cut it apart again in anger, to repeat the attack and force reality to obey what he knew should be true.

But he restrained himself.

Quickly, he raised his right hand toward Robin’s manifestation of fate.

His thumb and index finger began glowing with that distinctive golden light, the same authority-filled radiance that allowed him to peer into the hidden framework beneath existence itself.

Then he slowly pulled the manifestation toward himself and began examining what lay behind it.

Quadrillions of threads.

Trillions of trillions of intelligent beings whose destinies were connected to that man in one way or another.

Some connections were thick and powerful, others thin and fragile, some represented loyalty, others fear, hatred, dependence, admiration, or simple coincidence, yet all of them ultimately converged upon the same figure.

Any word he spoke, any action he took, would influence all of them, whether positively or negatively, causing waves that would spread endlessly through the universe.

He was the living embodiment of the greatest enemy any user of Causality could ever face.

Sevar nodded.

It was a terrifying sight, one that would have shocked most observers and convinced them that Robin had already become a monster beyond control.

But it was also expected from the Lord of Humanity.

There was nothing unusual there that warranted further investigation, nothing that explained the impossible scene he had just witnessed.

So he pushed the manifestation of fate backward slightly, causing all the threads connected to Robin to vanish from view as his perspective shifted beyond them.

Then he pushed the manifestation even farther back.

With this action, he should have been able to see the threads influencing Robin.

He should have been able to see the path Robin was destined to follow if he continued walking his current road, the countless future possibilities gradually narrowing until only the most likely outcome remained visible.

Pff—

A terrible pain and weakness swept through Sevar’s body, causing his organs to tighten and his vision to blur for a brief moment.

This ability granted him a cheat sheet that allowed him to peer into an opponent’s future and gave him the power to alter that future however he wished, making preparations years, centuries, or even millennia before events occurred.

It was no less destructive and horrifying than Fate Severance itself, and in some situations it was even more terrifying because it allowed him to attack a person’s future before that future had arrived.

"...Eh?!"

Sevar’s expression froze instantly.

It was as though he had forgotten the pain entirely, every trace of discomfort disappearing beneath a wave of disbelief.

There was no thread.

There was no path.

He could not see what was destined for Robin.

"Impossible!"

Sevar lunged forward and began examining the manifestation carefully, hoping to find something, anything that could explain what he was seeing and restore logic to the situation.

The absence of a future thread meant the absence of fate.

And the absence of fate meant the absence of the person himself.

That was the entire purpose behind Fate Severance in the first place!

Had his fate already been severed?!

A person like that should have been dead.