Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2444 Negotiating with a Behemoth

"...Let the boy go."

"...?!" Theo's eyes snapped open violently the instant those familiar words reached him, and he immediately turned toward the source of the voice with such force that his entire attention shifted away from the death closing in around him. The moment he saw what had appeared there, a thin layer of tears quickly covered his eyes...

It was a Soul Shard... a golden-white Soul Shard floating there before them.

"Oh?" Helmor didn't release Theo from his grasp, but the power of destruction surrounding his hand stopped progressing after reaching a certain point, no longer continuing to destroy Theo's neck as Helmor shifted his attention toward the newcomer and began carefully examining the Soul Shard from top to bottom. "Fifty thousand soul units? Do you seriously think that's enough to stop me, Robin Burton?"

"Would it really have made any difference if this Soul Shard possessed ten million soul units instead?" Robin revealed a faint, relaxed smile as he placed both hands behind his back and calmly faced Helmor. "You're far stronger than something like that, Helmor. No matter how powerful I managed to make my Soul Shard, it still wouldn't be capable of dealing with someone at your level, so rather than wasting our time pretending otherwise, let's negotiate instead."

"Father..." Theo gritted his teeth with all his strength as he looked toward the golden-white figure, his voice strained beneath Helmor's grip.

"Whoosh, don't worry about anything." Robin gave Theo a reassuring nod accompanied by the same faint smile, apparently treating the situation before him with remarkable calm. "Your job description doesn't include fighting Behemoths just yet." Then, after reassuring Theo with those few words, he turned his attention back toward Helmor as though returning to the actual matter at hand. "What do you think, Helmor?"

"...Helmor without any title at all? That's extremely rude." Helmor began examining Robin from top to bottom once again, scrutinizing the golden-white Soul Shard before him while trying to understand where that relaxed manner and complete lack of visible tension were coming from.

"I didn't hear any title placed before my own name either, but strangely enough, I didn't get angry about it." Robin chuckled lightly, apparently finding the issue too insignificant to deserve any serious attention. "Those are secondary matters in a situation like this."

"You..." Helmor slowly raised his head a little higher as the meaning behind Robin's response settled in. "Are you actually comparing yourself to me?"

"Heh~ That's unfortunate, but what exactly can I do about it?" Robin released a light sigh while maintaining his relaxed expression. "Unfortunately, my son is still being held in your hand right now, so I have no choice but to lower myself a little and speak to you as an equal."

"....?!" Helmor's expression immediately shifted into obvious irritation as he stared at Robin, no longer hiding how much the words had annoyed him. "This is a dangerous game you're playing with me, Robin Burton."

"Argh!!" The skin covering Theo's neck immediately began cracking apart beneath the destructive force surrounding Helmor's hand, with pieces of it breaking away and falling as the pressure upon him increased.

"..." Robin continued watching everything happening to Theo without moving from his position, the exact same faint smile remaining upon his face as though Helmor's action hadn't been enough to disturb his composure.

"...?" Helmor became deeply bewildered by that reaction, staring at Robin as though he couldn't understand what kind of person could maintain such an expression while watching his son suffer directly in front of him. "Are you even sane?"

"I'm betting that you're the sane one here." Robin replied with complete calm, his voice carrying no visible hesitation despite Theo still being trapped within Helmor's hand. "You won't kill my son in front of me, Helmor, not if you possess even the smallest shred of intelligence." Then he continued without giving Helmor much time to respond, "Your place is fighting against Hedrick, winning one sector and losing another, making some gains here and earning yourself a reputation there, things of that nature..." Robin then slowly shook his head as he looked at him. "That is your sky."

Then Robin raised his head slightly higher and looked directly toward Helmor, the warmth in his gaze disappearing as his expression turned cold. "If you try to raise your head above that sky... you'll lose it forever."

"Hahaha!" Helmor suddenly burst into mad laughter as though Robin's words had genuinely amused him rather than threatened him, his laughter growing louder as he stared at the Soul Shard before him. "This is extremely interesting! Extremely interesting!!"

High above them, Zavaros continued watching everything that was unfolding beneath him while trembling despite his enormous body. The purple flames that had previously been escaping from his mouth completely stopped, and even his throat ceased releasing its deep growls because he was afraid that the slightest unnecessary sound might draw attention toward him... all while his thoughts returned to the scene of Robin's brief battle against Marlik and everything he had witnessed during that short confrontation.

If His Majesty had been present here in his true body, there wouldn't have been a battle in the first place, but the figure standing before Helmor right now was merely a Shard... and if Helmor continued pushing things too far under these circumstances, he would bring a disaster down upon everyone.

"Heh." Robin calmly continued watching Helmor's loud laughter without interrupting him, apparently waiting until the Destruction Behemoth had enjoyed himself enough. "I'm glad I personally managed to put a smile on the Destruction Behemoth's face." Then he continued while raising a hand and pointing toward Theo, whose neck was still trapped within Helmor's grasp. "But the boy is suffering, so finish your laugh quickly and let him go."

"Haha, this really is funny." Helmor didn't listen to Robin's request at all, his amusement continuing as he looked between him and the helpless Theo in his hand. "I could simply crush this child like an insect before you could even blink, yet despite knowing that, you're still standing there and speaking to me in this manner. Have you completely lost every trace of common sense?"

"What's the most you could possibly do, Helmor?" The faint smile that had remained on Robin's face throughout their exchange finally disappeared as he looked directly at the Destruction Behemoth. "With a single signal from this Shard, I'll be here in the flesh, standing directly in front of you. Whether you decide to do something to my son or simply destroy this Soul Shard instead, I'll reach you before you can even blink... and I promise you that when I arrive, that'll be the last thing you ever see."

"...You can actually come all the way from Donara to Mid Sector 108 instantly?" Helmor's wild laughter immediately stopped as he focused upon the meaning behind Robin's words, and a strange smile gradually appeared on his face. "You really are a Spacetime user..."

"Yes, fifth stage. So what exactly does that change?" Robin casually raised one eyebrow, showing no concern whatsoever about openly admitting the information. "Am I supposed to suddenly become afraid because this information has been exposed? Would you like me to write down the rest of my Master Laws and their stages for you on a piece of paper as well?"

"...The rest of them?" Helmor's eyes immediately narrowed as he stared directly into Robin's eyes with obvious hostility, focusing upon those few words more than anything else Robin had said. "It seems the Seer truly spared no effort on you, just as everyone says..."

"Heh." Robin raised his head slightly, showing complete indifference toward what he had just heard and making no attempt to argue about it. "Let him go, Helmor. Killing him won't bring you anything except my vengeance. I'll appear here immediately, preserve my son's soul, and have him reborn through my own methods, then I'll personally send you into eternal torment... Don't make this personal and simply allow everything to continue moving according to interests as it already does. Form alliances, spread rumors, and keep doing all those pleasant little things you people enjoy doing, but don't force me to move personally against you. That wouldn't be in anyone's interest."

"...Have him reborn, huh." The intense hostility filling Helmor's eyes gradually diminished after hearing those words, replaced instead by suspicion and a noticeable trace of hesitation as he continued staring at Robin. The sheer amount of confidence contained within Robin's words, and the natural manner in which he had spoken them, simply wasn't something that could easily be faked.

Robin's true strength was completely unknown to Helmor. He had never personally tested Robin's power, nor had he ever witnessed him fight with his own eyes, and everything he knew about the matter was merely that the Seer had provided Robin with Unbound to assist him... But thinking about the situation from another angle now, was it actually possible that Robin himself was stronger than both Hedrick and Renara, and that this was precisely why individuals like them were willing to work for him?

But if that were really the case, then what exactly could possibly exist that was stronger than the Unbound?

"...Are you an Unbound as well?" Helmor muttered with obvious shock as the possibility suddenly occurred to him. "Did the Seer create three Unbound?"

"Whoo~" Robin raised a hand and began rubbing his forehead as though the direction Helmor's thoughts had taken was giving him a headache, then forced an obviously artificial smile back onto his face. "Are you going to let him go or not?"

"...Nothing is beyond negotiation." Helmor raised his head slightly, apparently unwilling to simply release the person already trapped within his hand without gaining something in return. "What are you going to give me in exchange for sparing him?"

"I'm giving you face by still standing here and talking to you!!" Robin's voice suddenly rose, and the sharpness within it increased noticeably as the patience he had displayed until now began wearing thin. "If even that isn't enough for you, then let's see whether I can rip him out of your hands today or not!!"

Hummm

Behind the golden-white Soul Shard, a golden passage shaped exactly like a doorway suddenly appeared, its structure astonishingly stable despite what it represented, without the slightest visible disturbance around it and with everything about it appearing unnaturally calm.

Through that golden doorway, a person could clearly be seen sitting in front of a Glass House, leisurely drawing something upon a piece of paper as though the confrontation occurring on the other side had nothing to do with him. That person was Robin himself... while beside him, an extraordinarily handsome young man who appeared to be in his twenties sat directly on the ground in a meditative posture.

Helmor narrowed his eyes as he examined the strange golden doorway that looked almost like nothing more than an image suspended in front of him, then cautiously sent his soul sense through it to investigate exactly what he was seeing... Yet his soul sense truly passed through that golden doorway, crossed whatever lay between the two sides, and actually reached Robin, touching him directly.

At that moment, Robin lifted his head away from the paper he had been drawing upon... and looked directly into Helmor's eyes through the golden passage.

There was nothing particularly piercing about that gaze, nor was there any obvious hostility contained within it, and Robin hadn't even bothered opening his eyes particularly wide as though he were preparing himself for a confrontation... They were merely a pair of sleepy, half-open eyes staring toward Helmor with unmistakable boredom.

"....?!" Helmor involuntarily took a step backward as that gaze fell upon him.

The feeling of danger that suddenly swept through him at that moment wasn't something he had experienced in a very long time, a sensation so immediate and intense that his body reacted before he could properly process it...

No—

It wasn't merely something he hadn't felt for a long time; after searching through everything he had experienced before, Helmor realized that it wasn't something he had ever felt in his entire life!!

Robin continued looking at Helmor for another moment, calmly examining him from top to bottom through the golden doorway without changing his sleepy expression... then, as though he had already seen everything he needed to see, he lowered his gaze back toward the paper and simply returned to his drawing.