Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2428 Wake up call

"Qarun?"

"He's the commander of the Stellar Academies!!"

"Is this really the first time he's ever appeared publicly like this? I've never seen him before. For someone like him to personally come forward and speak to everyone, this must be an extremely important matter..."

Inside the countless halls of the Soul Society, everyone gradually abandoned whatever they had been doing and turned their full attention toward the broadcast playing before them. Qaron's opening words about coming before them with a heavy heart seemed to carry an unusual weight of their own, causing the hearts of those listening to him to grow heavier as well while they waited to hear what could possibly have driven such a figure to appear personally.

<...There is a grave and extremely dangerous revelation that I have decided to share with all of you today, and once I have placed everything before you, I will leave you with the complete freedom to choose and judge for yourselves as the children of this universe and its rightful owners.> Qaron continued speaking in an exceptionally calm manner, allowing every word to reach his listeners clearly. <There is an ancient entity that has been moving among us, a luminous creature that selects certain followers and uses them to accomplish certain objectives. That entity has continued appearing since time immemorial, and throughout that immense span of history, it has left behind a clearly recognizable signature. Every Millennial Empire and every Dominator knows of its existence, while anyone who has ever gained access to even a portion of the forbidden knowledge hidden from ordinary people will immediately recognize what I'm talking about... It is the All-Seeing god, you may just call him the Seer.>

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

<That ancient entity, which has been known by many different names throughout history, possesses a particular and unmistakable pattern within the traces it leaves behind. Whenever you investigate deeply enough into its activities, whenever you follow those traces and investigate the people it personally chooses to carry out its tasks, you will discover that the path they leave behind always points in the same direction: toward cosmic wars, toward ruin, toward destruction and death... This is what it does.>

Qaron's expression gradually twisted with visible sorrow as he continued addressing everyone watching him. <I personally conducted extensive research into this matter and gathered for all of you every follower of his whom history has managed to observe, whom the great figures of their respective eras identified, and whose actions were recorded and preserved. I have already asked the Soul Society to distribute a list containing their names together with their disgraceful deeds to every single one of you... Please check your private messages and examine what has been sent to you, then return to the broadcast.>

Then Qaron calmly closed his eyes and fell completely silent, apparently giving everyone watching enough time to do exactly what he had requested... but despite his sudden silence, the recording itself didn't stop.

"...?"

"Did you get the message?"

"Shh, I'm reading it!"

In practically the same instant, hundreds of millions of people throughout the Soul Society opened their private inboxes to check what Qarun had just mentioned, only to discover that the message he had promised had indeed already arrived and was waiting for them.

Upon opening the message, around ninety different names immediately appeared before them, each one glowing conspicuously in golden letters, and whenever someone pressed on any one of those names, an additional box would appear containing a summarized account of that person's history, accompanied by another summary describing the atrocities and disasters that person had caused.

And at the bottom of every single one of those boxes were historical sources related to the information being presented, along with methods through which anyone who refused to believe what they were reading could conduct their own independent research and investigate the matter personally!

"My heavens..."

"The Great War that happened inside Mid Sector 81 all those years ago was actually the work of that Seer?"

"He's also the one behind the devastation that happened in Sector 445!!"

"The Archon, the leader of the Hidden Hand, is actually named Sevar? He's one of them too!!"

"No wonder. He's the greatest devil in the entire universe and the one behind everything evil. Of course someone like him would turn out to be one of them!"

"What the hell is wrong with that Seer, and what exactly does he want from us?!"

"Hmm?"

"Look at the bottom of the list!!"

Sooner or later, as more and more people continued examining the long list of names and the information attached to each one, everyone's attention eventually moved toward the very bottom, and the instant they saw the final name written there, their eyes widened to their absolute limits in disbelief... because there was a name at the bottom that practically all of them knew extremely well.

Robin Burton.

With their mouths hanging open and their minds reeling from the shock of seeing such a familiar name included among all those people, everyone hurriedly pressed on it to see what information had been recorded beneath it... and what appeared before them was a list of crimes that surpassed all the previous ones combined.

Starting with the destruction of what was referred to as the Ancestor Continent and the oppression of Planet Nihari, the report continued through the establishment of the two terrorist organizations known as the Shadow Swords and the Black Wasps, the attacks launched against the peaceful Sectors 99 and 100, supporting and contributing to a cosmic war in Mid Sector 101, killing two Behemoths, and carrying out brutal military expansion across more than twenty different sectors.

Every war that had occurred during the previous millennium and possessed any connection whatsoever to Robin, whether that connection was direct or indirect, was carefully mentioned by name and date, and whenever someone pressed on the name of any one of those wars, they would immediately find additional details about the losses that had resulted from it, accompanied by an exaggerated explanation emphasizing the bloodshed and brutality involved.

There was also a detailed explanation concerning every one of Robin Burton's inventions and how each individual invention had supposedly contributed in one way or another to igniting wars and spilling blood throughout the universe, with all of those inventions ultimately being portrayed as tools that contributed to the human sacrifices he was offering for whatever mysterious evil he was supposedly preparing.

And of course, Robin Burton's relationship with the imps going back many years was prominently mentioned as well, together with an explanation claiming that he deliberately sent those creatures away to feed upon other planets so that he could keep them far from his own people, all while continuing to lead and control them until the day eventually came when he would need them to wipe out the universe.

The manner in which the entire report had been written and the way every event had been presented made Robin appear capable of competing directly with Sevar himself for first place when it came to the amount of cosmic destruction he had caused and the sheer vileness of his character...

Silence

At that moment, while everyone had fallen completely silent and remained staring in disbelief at the extraordinarily long list of crimes displayed before them... Qarun's voice suddenly resounded once again, drawing everyone's attention back toward the recording.

<Did you see a name among them that you recognize? Perhaps even a name you respect and hold in high regard? Yes, this is the very same lord whose fame has spread so widely throughout the universe in recent times, displaying followers who possess terrifying levels of strength and commanding an enormous army with which he does whatever he pleases without having to answer to anyone, and unfortunately, despite all of this, there are still those who support him and enthusiastically cheer for him... He is one of them. In fact, among all of them, he is the worst.>

<People of the universe, I am not a hateful or envious person who has appeared before you today simply because I wish to tarnish another man's reputation. I am merely someone whose shoulders and conscience have been burdened by everything I discovered, and I can no longer force myself to remain silent about what I know, even if speaking these words today means that his followers will eventually come after me and kill me. I lost my teacher and my master because of him!> Qarun paused and took a deep breath before continuing. <In truth, this person deceived my unsuspecting teacher. He deceived the Cosmic Elder himself and made him believe that he was a good person who genuinely cared about the common good and the safety of everyone, convincing him that he intended to spend his immense wealth confronting the danger threatening all of us.>

<He deliberately created a rift between me and my lord and teacher, then occupied the position I had held beside him so that the field would eventually be left completely clear for him to act as the sole policeman of the universe and do whatever he wanted with all of you without anyone standing in his way. But I refused to simply stand aside and allow something like that to happen. I gathered honorable people around me and fought against what was happening, strengthened the Star Academies so they could continue fulfilling their purpose, and kept doing exactly what I have always done throughout all these years... protecting you!>

Then Qarun slowly lowered his gaze toward the luxurious desk before him, his expression becoming increasingly heavy. <But unfortunately... that person didn't like what I was doing or the fact that I refused to disappear from his path, so he eventually quarreled with the Cosmic Elder himself. He wanted to force him either to kill me outright or forcibly remove me from my position, but the Cosmic Elder finally understood what kind of person he truly was and refused to obey his demands. He told him clearly that I was doing everything within my power for the sake of the people and that he would never allow me to be killed!!>

Then Drop a single tear slowly rolled down from behind the black glasses concealing Qarun's eyes.

<...And when he realized that he couldn't get what he wanted that way, his response was to plot a scheme to kill him.>

"........!!!!" The hearts of the people watching immediately began pounding with tremendous force inside their chests, while many of their eyes nearly lost focus entirely beneath the sheer intensity of the anger that suddenly surged through them after hearing those words.

<People of the universe, that person, that Robin Burton, exploited his personal knowledge of the Cosmic Elder and everything he knew about him. He exploited his advanced age and the injuries that the Cosmic Elder had suffered for the sake of all of us, and then he killed him! He killed my teacher and the pillar that supported me. He killed the pillar upon which all of us throughout this universe relied. He killed the only thing we still had left that represented goodness within us.>

Sniff Qarun drew in a breath before continuing with his voice filled with emotion. <People of the universe, Robin Burton is a murderer. He seeks to destroy this universe just as he destroyed the Cosmic Elder. He wants to kill every last one of us exactly as Sevar does. They are brothers working beneath the same entity, and the hostility you have witnessed between them with your own eyes is nothing more than an elaborate act designed to make you love and trust Robin Burton while he slaughters you, while at the same time making Sevar's task easier as he destroys you from the other side... Wake up, people of the universe, before it's too late!!>

Woop

The recording finally ended.