Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2349 The mission

"My Lord!" Drace hurried forward, instinctively intending to help Hedrick to his feet. Even now, Hedrick remained kneeling on one knee, staring at Lord Robin with an expression filled with disbelief and confusion, as though he were trying to reconcile the man before him with everything he had thought possible only moments earlier.

Whoosh. Hedrick calmly raised a hand, signaling Drace to remain where he was. The simple motion alone released a powerful gust of air that immediately struck Drace, forcing his clothes to flutter violently and causing both him and Hedrick to instinctively lower their gazes toward Hedrick's raised hand for a brief moment.

"...?" Even Glatheon turned toward Hedrick in surprise—but not because of the strength he had displayed.

Quite the opposite.

When Renara had done something similar inside the cave, she had nearly blasted all of them overhead without even intending to. Compared to her, Hedrick was already controlling his newfound strength incomparably better, as though his instincts had adapted to the transformation almost immediately.

"...What exactly did you do?" Hedrick finally turned back toward Robin, his brows tightly furrowed as countless questions accumulated in his mind.

"...." Robin slowly exhaled before speaking, his voice still carrying obvious fatigue. "Those threads weren't granting you the support and acknowledgment of the Heavenly Laws the way everyone believed. They were removing part of the limitations imposed upon you."

Robin paused for a moment, still covering his eye as though even speaking required effort.

"Your extraordinary talent and the overwhelming strength you possessed compared to others at your level came from a technique that had been reducing those limitations ever since your earliest memories. Then that technique—or whatever modification had been performed on you—would sever portions of those threads and preserve them, allowing it to remove even more of those limitations over time. If someone with your level of strength had naturally removed thirty percent of the restrictions on their primary law through ordinary cultivation, that modification had effectively raised yours to forty-seven percent instead."

Finally, he lowered his hand slightly from his eye and looked weakly toward Hedrick.

"As for me... I removed one hundred percent of them. And not only the restrictions on your Minor Crumbling Law, but the restrictions placed upon every law within the universe."

"...Why are you capable of doing something like this when no one else has ever done it?" Hedrick asked without the slightest hint of disbelief.

He didn't argue that such a thing was impossible.

He had personally experienced what had happened.

He had personally felt the transformation.

He had personally felt his own strength.

"Heh~" Robin let out a faint chuckle despite his exhausted state. "Bring me someone besides me who possesses five Master Laws, and we'll ask them."

"You..." Hedrick slowly rose to his feet, his expression stiffening once again. "You possess five Master Laws?!"

"Six, actually." Robin covered his weary eye once more, almost absentmindedly. "But I only used five on you."

Then he continued without giving Hedrick time to process the answer.

"From what I've observed, those five Master Laws place a mark upon you that effectively warns the Heavenly Laws governing Universe B-14 that you are no longer subject to their authority. As far as those laws are concerned, you're no longer one of the pieces they can freely manipulate. It places you outside the game, so to speak." He chuckled quietly before adding, "You always wanted to stop being a pawn. Congratulations... you've become a knight."

"..." Hedrick silently stared down at the top of Robin's head for several long seconds, trying to absorb everything he had just heard while comparing it against everything he had just experienced. "You have a great deal to explain to me... especially this Universe B-14 thing."

"Everything in its own time. For now, though, I have one question..." Robin slightly raised his head and looked toward Hedrick's chest as he spoke, as though his current appearance mattered less than the answer he was about to receive. "Did I give you strength equal to Marlik the Butcher... or not?"

"....." Hedrick fell silent for several moments before slowly raising one hand. With extreme deliberation, almost as though he feared accidentally tearing space apart, he gradually closed his fingers into a fist.

BAAAM!

An overwhelming shockwave burst outward, striking the very air around him and causing the surrounding atmosphere to shudder violently before settling once more.

Then Hedrick slowly lifted his head, his eyes filled with a confidence unlike anything he had ever displayed before.

"I've never fought Marlik before, so I can't claim to know the limits of his true strength." He paused briefly before continuing with complete certainty. "But it's difficult to imagine him possessing power greater than this." He gave a single, decisive nod.

"You spoke the truth."

Craaack.

"...." Robin smiled.

The key—the part of the oath that had given Hedrick a path to escape their agreement if Robin ever failed to fulfill his promises—fractured before their very eyes and completely collapsed the instant those words left Hedrick's mouth. There was no external force acting upon it, no command from Robin, only the automatic response of the oath itself after recognizing Hedrick's wholehearted acknowledgment.

Officially...

Hedrick had become his sword.

"...Mm." Robin nodded several times before leaning his head back once more, his exhausted expression remaining unchanged. "Marlik has a method of circumventing the limits imposed by the laws, just as you did before. But just like your previous state, it's only a relative and fluctuating circumvention. Some laws gain an additional twenty percent of freedom, while others don't gain anything at all. You probably noticed during your breakthrough that some threads reacted while others were severed far more than the rest, because the restrictions placed upon every law weren't originally identical... As for you, as someone who has reached one hundred percent removal of all limitations, in that regard, you've surpassed him. There is no remaining restriction for you to continue bypassing, because there is simply nothing left to remove."

"...." Hedrick drew a long, slow breath, silently replaying everything he had experienced during the breakthrough while comparing it with Robin's explanation, only to realize that every strange sensation now seemed to fit together naturally.

"W-What?!" Draice, meanwhile, looked as though he had just been struck across the head by an invisible hammer, his mind going completely blank for a moment as he stared back and forth between Robin and Hedrick... His lord had become as powerful as Marlik?

Just like that?!

"But I don't want you becoming overconfident," Robin continued in a calm voice. "Marlik possesses the crystal of an adult space beast, and the blood of that same beast flows through his veins. He also wields two swords forged with technology that doesn't originate from our world, weapons whose true capabilities even I haven't completely figured out yet. Those advantages, combined with his countless years of battle experience, could still place him one level above you in an actual life-or-death battle where every tiny advantage matters."

"Hoooh~" Hedrick slowly exhaled, a faint smile gradually appearing on his face. "An hour ago, I wouldn't have accepted being compared to Marlik at all. But now you're telling me that I surpass him in one aspect while he may surpass me in another... I'm satisfied with that." His eyes gleamed with unmistakable excitement. "If the odds are close... I fear no one."

"Mm. Good." Robin nodded in satisfaction. "I'll find a way to eliminate those advantages Marlik holds over you regardless, and very soon." Then he smiled once more. "Just try not to get into a life-or-death fight with him until I'm finished." His expression then gradually became serious. "The same applies to your father. I can't see through that man's mysteries no matter how I analyze him. He appears to be a subordinate of the Syndicate, yet at the same time he behaves as though he's nothing more than a distant ally who merely shares certain interests with them. I can't accurately assess his true strength or determine where his actual limits lie. I'm afraid that battle you fought against him may have been nothing more than a performance."

"A performance?!" Hedrick frowned deeply, unable to hide his surprise.

"Yes. Your father attracted the Seer's attention, and it seems obvious he was trying to prove that he was an ordinary person, so he deliberately began those adventures against you and your siblings. He may have intentionally allowed you to wound him so the story would spread naturally throughout the universe, distancing himself from any future suspicion and reinforcing the image he wanted others to believe... That's my analysis, at least. If there's another explanation entirely, we'll discover it someday once enough pieces finally fall into place."

"...." Hedrick nodded slowly, silently committing Robin's words to memory without arguing further.

Robin, meanwhile, looked directly into his eyes with a broad smile, the exhaustion covering his face doing nothing to diminish the confidence behind his gaze.

"When facing those two, fight however you wish—but always be prepared to run. As for everyone else..." His smile widened even further. "Kill as you please. Kill until the heavens themselves grow enraged. Kill until the earth is soaked in blood."

"For what purpose?" Hedrick asked seriously, his voice remaining perfectly calm despite the terrifying order.

"To give me the universe, of course." Robin's smile became even brighter, carrying not the slightest trace of hesitation. "Universe B-14 has lived in chaos and remained in the wrong hands for far too long. It's time for me to return it to the proper path. It's time for it to fall into the hands of its rightful heir. My hands."

"....!" Glatheon and Drace both shuddered involuntarily, neither of them doubting for even a moment that Robin genuinely intended to accomplish exactly what he had just declared.

Hedrick, however, simply nodded without the slightest hesitation.

"Where do I begin?"

His hand slowly tightened into a fist as the newly acquired strength coursing through his body made it increasingly difficult to suppress his desire for battle.

He was eager to test his newfound strength.

Robin revealed a broad smile.

"I'll give you fifteen days to grow accustomed to your power, stabilize your control, and fully understand your new state. After that, your first mission will be to attack Behemoth Darvion's galaxy... and claim that galaxy for yourself."