Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2274: Hatred of master law

"What is happening here?!" Sevar ground his teeth in anger and confusion, his mind racing through every possibility he knew, only to reject each one moments later because none of them matched the impossible scene unfolding before him.

What he was seeing now should not belong to a human.

Nor to any living creature that possessed a soul, a history, desires, ambitions, and a place within the flow of causality.

Even bacteria possessed threads of fate!

Even the smallest forms of life, creatures that lived and died without thought or purpose, left traces within the great wheel of causality and possessed futures that could be observed, influenced, and ultimately altered.

There was only one thing that displayed this kind of phenomenon...

Something that had countless destinies connected to it and influenced by it, yet possessed no future of its own, desired nothing, and was influenced by nothing, existing merely as a point around which the hopes of others revolved.

They were idols.

The objects of worship revered by pagans.

Vast numbers of people placed their hopes in them, built their futures around them, prayed before them during moments of despair, and based their decisions upon entities represented by lifeless idols that could neither hear nor respond.

Yet the idols themselves possessed neither power nor will.

They desired nothing.

They were influenced by nothing.

They had no future path.

They are just rocks.

In such circumstances, a manifestation like the one before him would appear—a manifestation without an owner, a hollow shell that existed solely because countless minds acknowledged it. The hopes, expectations, fears, and even spirits of countless people would cling to it, yet it would possess no future of its own because there was no true being standing behind it.

Users of Causality, Curse practitioners, and followers of the Dark Path in general often exploited these false manifestations for sacrifices and the acquisition of power, harvesting the accumulated emotions and faith surrounding them would be a far greater sacrifice than the usual blood.

But...

Was Robin Burton merely an idol?

Impossible!

That man had a family.

He had a history.

An empire.

Children.

An entire life filled with victories, defeats, enemies, allies, responsibilities, and ambitions.

Friends.

Among them was the Elder Cosmic himself!

How could someone like that possess the same fate as an inanimate object?!

"The Knower..." Blood began flowing from Sevar’s eyes after employing so many supreme techniques against a manifestation as powerful as Robin’s, his body struggling beneath the accumulated burden. "...Do you truly wish to get rid of me this badly? What have I done to you... to deserve all of this?!"

Pffft—

He spat out blood mixed with fragments of flesh before dropping to one knee once more, his chest rising and falling heavily as waves of pain coursed through his body.

------------

Donara Planet — Present Time

"..."

Robin looked in a certain direction, a clear expression of annoyance and killing intent appearing on his face as though he had sensed something unpleasant occurring far beyond the reach of ordinary perception.

Yet he did not seem injured in any way.

Well. not new injury at least.

Not even slightly.

"Is something wrong, Lord Robin?" Glatheon finally found an opportunity to open his mouth again after remaining silent for so long.

For several minutes, Robin had remained focused on studying the board and paid him no attention whatsoever, as though nothing else in the world deserved consideration.

Then, for some reason, he had suddenly turned toward that direction.

"Well... I think we’re both injured now." Robin returned his gaze to the board and chuckled, sounding far more amused than concerned. "I bet he didn’t expect this. Hehe."

"Whom are you speaking about, Lord Robin, if I may ask?" Glatheon questioned once more, unable to suppress his curiosity. "Who could possibly matter enough for you to care whether they’re injured or not at your current level of strength?"

"Several people," Robin replied calmly, his expression remaining relaxed. "Sevar included, of course."

"...?" It was the first time Glatheon had heard that person’s name spoken openly and directly. "Was it him just now who...?"

"Mhm." Robin nodded casually. "He tried to kill me by severing my Thread of Fate." Then he laughed. "Perhaps my breakthroughs in understanding the Laws raised the level of threat I represent in his eyes, so he decided to remove me and settle the matter once and for all before things became even more troublesome."

"....?!"

Glatheon instinctively stepped backward in fear, his pupils shrinking as the implications of those words struck him.

The Archon had personally made a move?

The being whose very existence stood at the summit of the universe’s hierarchy, a figure whom countless powers feared and respected, had personally attacked?

And failed?!

"H-... How?" Glatheon muttered, his voice filled with disbelief as he struggled to process what he had just heard. "How?!"

"How did I not die?" Robin looked toward Glatheon with a broad smile that seemed entirely out of place given the topic being discussed. "Because I’m already dead."

"...?!" Glacion’s brows knitted tightly together, his confusion only deepening instead of diminishing.

"Oooooh, Great One, Great One..."

The shout from the side drew Robin’s attention toward Pistu and the person beside him. He turned in their direction, raising an eyebrow as though only now remembering they were still present.

"How long are you two planning to stay like that? The pressure is gone and everything is over. Go make me something hot."

"At once!!" Pistu immediately jumped to his feet upon receiving the order, moving with a speed that suggested he had been waiting desperately for an excuse to escape.

As for the person beside him, he looked somewhat embarrassed and began dusting off his clothes while trying to regain a semblance of dignity.

"...Harper?" Robin finally remembered him after a brief pause. "Do you have a report or something?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The Shadow Sword bowed respectfully. "I can deliver it whenever you wish."

"Oh... then wait a little until your soul calms down." Robin waved twice dismissively. "Go help Pistu."

"As you command!" Harper moved away quickly, clearly relieved to receive a straightforward task.

Robin then turned back toward Glacion.

"Oh, what was I saying?"

"...That you’re dead." Glatheon forced a smile onto his face, though it looked more strained than amused.

"Ah, right, right..." Robin gently set the board aside and leaned back against his simple chair, looking far more relaxed than someone discussing matters involving fate, death, and the Archon himself. "Several centuries ago, when the All-Seeing god first appeared before me, he said something strange... He said that someone like me shouldn’t exist."

"....?" Glatheon trembled slightly.

Even speaking openly about someone like the Seer had become normal now?!

Most people treated that existence as something beyond discussion, yet Robin spoke of him the same way one would speak about an old acquaintance.

"At first, I thought he was talking about the fact that I had become a Chosen of Truth. Back then, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as the Path of Truth or Chosen Ones and all that nonsense, and I was extremely proud of myself..." Robin chuckled at the memory. "But afterward I went to Nihari and Greenland and fought the Great Serpent Empire, and I learned that being a Chosen of Truth wasn’t nearly as impressive as I had imagined. The universe is far larger and stranger than people from young worlds like to believe."

"....."

"But the All-Seeing god clarified it later..." Robin laughed softly. "Back then, I had already tampered with what are called Threads of Fate quite extensively. Hehe."

"......?"

"As someone from a nascent planet whose martial history barely stretched thirty thousand years, I became a genuine Chosen of Truth. A person who desired the Path itself and wasn’t merely granted the Eye of Truth as a reward like most Chosen Ones. That fact alone was enough to tear apart all of my future Threads of Fate."

".....?"

"...Add to that the fact that I entered Truth through the widest gate possible—the discovery of the Fundamental Law of Death, the absolute truth that every creature will eventually experience regardless of how much time passes, regardless of race, cultivation, power, talent, status, or destiny. That was another factor. Following the future threads of users of a Major Death Law is foolishness. How do you trace the future footsteps of someone who controls death itself? How do you define a fixed destiny for someone capable of interfering with the most universal truth in existence?"

"........?!"

"...And the cherry on top was that I literally tasted death." Robin pointed casually toward himself. "My original Threads of Fate reached their conclusion before the very moment I uncovered Truth and the Path of Death. My discovery of the Major Law of Death and the Master Law of Truth happened afterward, which makes those discoveries something outside of fate itself, events that occurred beyond the destination originally assigned to me."

He leaned back slightly before continuing.

"That’s what granted me the ability known as Omen of Truth, which warns me of things that haven’t happened yet without costing me anything. It’s also what gave me an unusual affinity with Causality. That Law doesn’t like me, and I have no doubt about that, but it doesn’t know how to deal with me either."

Robin laughed.

"I’m essentially a loophole in it!"

"......?!?"

Glatheon simply stared at him.

At this point he no longer knew which part of the explanation was supposed to be the shocking one.

The fact that Robin’s original fate had ended?

The fact that he had gained power beyond that endpoint?

Or the fact that he was casually describing himself as a flaw within one of the Master Laws of the universe?

Robin merely shrugged.

"I’m simply saying that attempting to sever my Threads of Fate, or manipulate my future, is a foolish and pathetic effort because, in the end..."

A grin slowly spread across his face, carrying a strange mixture of amusement, pride, and mockery.

"...Someone like me shouldn’t exist. Hehe... Hehehe."