Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2041 Hidden History

”Your dream?” Robin looked surprised for a brief moment, then slowly raised his brows, realization beginning to form in his eyes. ”Wasnʼt your dream to live long enough to witness what will happen after 2.2 million years? Wasnʼt that always your ultimate goal?”

”And what do you think this is?” the Cosmic Elder asked calmly, pointing toward the passage with a slow, deliberate motion.

At that very moment, the nascent space beasts had already begun returning through the gate-exactly as the Cosmic Elder had predicted. Their initial fear had completely faded, their hesitation gone, and they came back like flies drawn to light, swarming through the opening without caution or restraint.

”This?” Robin ignored the arrival of more space beasts and fixed his gaze on the gate for a long moment, his eyes narrowing. ”Are you saying that what weʼre witnessing right now... is what will happen after 2.2 million years? An invasion of space beasts on a cosmic scale?!”

”Perhaps,” the Cosmic Elder said, turning to face the gate as well, his expression unreadable. ”No one truly knows what the future holds. Maybe there really will be an invasion by those creatures... and maybe there wonʼt.” Then he continued, pointing toward the gate again with quiet certainty, ”All I know is this: the answer lies there-beyond that barrier, beyond that darkness.”

”.....” Robin remained silent for several moments, his thoughts racing. ”Do you think this darkness... is the Ancient Belt?”

The Cosmic Elder did not answer directly, but the implication was heavy, almost unavoidable...

/What do you know about the Ancient Belt?/

The Cosmic Elderʼs shout from that day echoed in Robinʼs mind-the same words he had once heard from the All-Seeing god himself.

If the Young Belt lay behind them, then this direction could only be the Ancient one-without doubt.

But if the belt was infested with space beasts like this... then what had happened to it? Was it completely destroyed? Had the beasts devoured every planet and every sun that once existed there?!

”I donʼt know if this is the Ancient Belt,” the Cosmic Elder said slowly, shaking his head, ”but I want to go there and search for myself. I want to know the truth with my own existence.”

”...?” Robin turned toward the Cosmic Elder, brows tightly drawn together, suspicion clear in his expression. ”Thereʼs something youʼre not telling me.” ”...Some things must remain secrets,” the Cosmic Elder sighed softly, his voice heavy with meaning.

”Not this time.” Robin shook his head firmly. ”If you want to use the passage I created, and if you want to help me keep it clean and protected... then youʼre going to talk. No half-truths.”

The Cosmic Elder remained silent for several full minutes, the battlefieldʼs distant chaos filling the space between them, before he finally opened his mouth.

”What do you know about the universe before my emergence?”

”Hmmm, is it time for bragging? Fine, Iʼll play along.” Robin chuckled dryly. ”From what Iʼve heard, the universe before the rise of the invincible Cosmic Elder was nothing more than a playground for space beasts and the Plague. They say the universe was originally connected-without sectors, without divisions-but the enemies of life, the Plague and the space beasts, ravaged it so completely that those isolated buffer zones were created just to contain the destruction.”

”Almost-” the Cosmic Elder nodded slowly. ”Indeed, in the past there were only the Young Belt and the Mid Belt.”

”But thereʼs something youʼre missing,” he continued, his tone growing more serious. ”Those buffer zones between sectors were not created by destruction alone. They were deliberately crafted by the creature they call the space beast ancestor. You could say he wanted to organize the extermination process itself -because the space beasts had become so numerous, so overwhelming in number, that they began attacking one another whenever they encountered a rich planet. Even they could no longer coexist with their own kind.”

”... To that extent?” Robin swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. ”Youʼre making me imagine the universe as nothing more than a vast farm for them-a place of endless resources and prey, nothing more than a feeding ground.”

”More than that,” the Elder raised a brow slightly, his expression calm but heavy with meaning. ”In truth, the universe was far, far larger than what we possess now. Vast beyond comprehension. If you pay attention, you can cross a single sector lengthwise and widthwise in just a few hours-but traveling between sectors and crossing the barrier takes years. Why do you think that is?”

Then he continued in a very calm, controlled voice, ”Because space is compressed there. The ancestor of the space beasts cut away 90% of the universe and began compressing it, forcibly shaping it to form those buffer

zones.”

”He struck multiple targets with a single move,” the Cosmic Elder said slowly, as memories resurfaced in his mind. ”First, he reduced collisions and internal conflict between the space beasts under his control. Second, he declared that the buffer zones he created-and everything within them-belonged solely to him, forbidden to all other space beasts. Third...” He paused briefly. ”In this way, he tightened his grip over the entire universe-true, absolute dominion. Not influence. Not control. Dominion.”

”.....” Robin swallowed again, his breath unconsciously quickening.

Just imagining what had taken place in that era made his chest feel tight, his thoughts heavy.

No wonder the buffer zones were filled with spatial storms, planetary debris, and black holes-was this because the ancestor of the space beasts had forcibly

compressed reality itself?

Just how far did his power truly reach?

What kind of existence could reshape the universe on such a scale?

And thinking about it... that being was defeated by the Cosmic Elder. Perhaps more respect was not just deserved-perhaps it was necessary. ”....” Robinʼs eyes drifted to the Cosmic Elderʼs bare, hairy leg and the simple sandal that revealed his toes, lingering there for a brief second, before he returned his gaze coldly to the Elderʼs face. ”What happened after that, old man?”

”What happened was chaos,” the Cosmic Elder replied. ”The numbers of the Plague increased because of that disorder, as no power had time or men to fight it-and as a result, the number of Plague Mutants grew as well-until, eventually, a massive council was formed called the Abyss of Doom. All of them were highly intelligent mutants, all of them dominant-level beings, and beneath their command marched countless armies of every known type of Plague.”

”...At that time, the spread of the Crimson and Black Plague was not confined to Chosen planets as it is now,” he continued. ”They had developed a way to build vessels-living constructs-that allowed them to leave their own planets and attack others. Hideous structures made of blood, flesh, and bone. The mere sight of one of them above your planet meant extinction. Nothing survived.” ”... It reached the point where they began to feel they were in direct competition with the space beasts,” the Cosmic Elder said, his voice darkening. ”They wanted to become more numerous, more powerful-to decide who truly deserved to rule what remained of the universe after the ancestor of the space beasts claimed the buffer zones.”

”So they stopped attacking planets personally,” he continued, brows tightening. ”They created special seeds-engineered seeds. They would drop them from their vessels onto a planet and then leave. Those seeds would later bloom, giving birth to a Black or Crimson Plague, and a new cycle of destruction would

begin.”

”The Abyss of Doom grew in power so rapidly,” he said grimly, ”that they themselves began to contend with adult space beasts for the right to devour massive planets-planets as large and rich as galaxy seeds were always a war zone between these to anti life creatures.”

”And where did human power stand in all this chaos?!” Robin finally burst out, unable to remain silent any longer, his voice sharp with tension and disbelief.