Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2384 Forward

Planet Donara — Beside Robin Glass house

”Hooo...” Althera let out a long breath before slowly opening her large eyes. The instant her eyelids lifted, astonishment immediately spread across her beautiful face, her pupils shrinking slightly as though she had just witnessed something completely beyond her expectations. ”How strange...”

Althera sat cross-legged right at the edge of the cliff, maintaining an almost perfectly motionless posture. Before her stretched a majestic battlefield scarred by endless combat, while beneath her lay a terrifying landscape filled with lingering destruction, yet her eyes remained fixed straight ahead upon the drifting clouds, as though the overwhelming scenery surrounding her had long since become nothing more than background to her thoughts.

A voice suddenly came from behind her.

”What happened, Sister Althera? Did you achieve another breakthrough in your understanding of the Law?”

”....” Althera glanced over her shoulder toward the glass retreat and the person quietly sitting inside it before asking with slight surprise, ”Youʼre still paying attention to me?”

”Itʼs difficult to pay attention to anything else when youʼre the only thing around here thatʼs actually moving.” Jabba lowered the steaming cup in his hand with a light chuckle before lazily waving toward her. ”Come on, donʼt be so stingy.”

”...” Althera looked forward once more. ”Mm. I advanced several steps in the Master Law of Balance all at once.” She continued speaking in a calm, almost dreamy voice, carefully recalling what she had just experienced. ”I never progressed this quickly when I was trying to comprehend the Fundamental Law of Repetition, yet now Iʼm attempting to understand the Master Law of Balance, and somehow it feels considerably easier, almost as though someone quietly removed a barrier that had always stood between me and the Law.”

She slowly raised one hand before her eyes, quietly examining her own fingers as though searching for the source of that subtle change.

”The Golden Honor...” she murmured. ”It truly is something incredible. No wonder every one of the Seerʼs Candidates possessed such tremendous reputations and left such profound marks upon the universe. Merely experiencing this much for myself already makes it easy to understand why people feared and respected them... itʼs honestly rather frightening.”

”Haha! Iʼm proud of you, Sister.” Jabba laughed loudly, clearly in an excellent mood. ”Even if, according to your own story, you received that Golden Honor through nothing but pure luck, youʼre still part of Masterʼs entourage now. Welcome aboard... even if luck deserves most of the credit.”

”....?” Althera slowly turned toward him, her expression immediately becoming noticeably colder. ”Are you planning to keep repeating that word all day?”

”...Sorry. I think Kleinʼs way of speaking rubbed off on me.” Jabba scratched the back of his head sheepishly before waving both hands several times in surrender. ”But donʼt worry. Even if it really was luck, I still welcome you. Iʼm not jealous of you. Honestly.”

A faint smile quietly appeared on Altheraʼs lips.

”...I can see your hair smoking.”

”Where?!” Jabba instantly slapped his long hair several times in panic while hurriedly checking himself from every possible angle.

”Hehe~” Althera smiled a little more before turning forward again and gently closing her large eyes. ”Donʼt call me ʼSister.ʼ We arenʼt fellow disciples. Even though Lord Robin granted me the Golden Honor and entrusted me with the Master Law of Balance, Iʼm not his disciple.”

After a brief pause, she calmly finished,

”Iʼm his personal guard.”

”....” Jabba stood up and casually walked several steps until he came to stand beside Althera near the edge of the cliff. ”Doesnʼt that make me higher in status than you?” he asked with an amused grin. ”Why donʼt you get up and prepare another drink for me, then?”

”...Very well.” Althera answered after genuinely thinking about it for several seconds. ”You may call me Sister.”

”.....”

”...?” Althera opened one eye and looked upward when no answer followed.

She found Jabba standing with both arms folded tightly across his chest, his brows knitted together as he stared silently down the mountainside...

Once again.

Naturally, Althera immediately understood exactly what had captured his attention this time as well, but she nevertheless allowed her own gaze to drift briefly toward the foot of the mountain...

More precisely...

Toward the area surrounding the gate.

Newborn Space Beasts continued emerging one after another without interruption, while the Imperial Guards dealt with each of them in flawless order and remarkable discipline, eliminating every creature almost as soon as it appeared before calmly returning to their assigned positions.

However...

Something there was undeniably different.

Standing directly beside the gate, no more than a single step away from the portal itself, was a solitary figure clad in crimson-veined armor, quietly staring toward the world beyond the gateway without making the slightest movement, as though the countless battles occurring around him had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

Space Beasts of every imaginable size continuously passed directly over his head...

Yet he never reacted.

He never flinched.

He never even shifted his footing.

Even stranger...

The beasts themselves instinctively avoided him as they fought all around him, behaving as though they simply could not perceive his existence.

More accurately...

They deliberately kept their distance from him, unconsciously circling around his position while leaving that lone stretch of ground completely untouched.

Marshal Sakar...

Althera had already heard about him over the past several days. He was one of the three Marshals who stood alongside Caesar and Aro, yet, for reasons unknown, he had remained far from the spotlight for an exceptionally long time, with very few people ever mentioning his name despite his status.

According to everything she had heard, while Caesar and Aro had spent their time fighting throughout the Mid Sectors, conquering battlefield after battlefield and building century-grade empires from absolutely nothing through relentless campaigns, Marshal Sakar had been entrusted with an entirely different mission—the unification of the young Sector 101.

According to the reports...

He had accomplished that task successfully.

Even so, compared to the achievements of his peers, it still sounded like a rather modest accomplishment.

Especially when compared with the frightening pressure continuously radiating from the dense aura surrounding his body...

Yet...

Even that failed to explain Jabbaʼs gaze.

Ever since Marshal Sakar had arrived, he had remained beside the gate almost without moving, rarely participating in battle and spending most of his time silently gazing toward the opposite side of the portal.

And ever since that same day...

Jabbaʼs eyes had constantly wandered toward him from afar.

He never approached him.

Never greeted him.

Never spoke a single word.

Yet every glance he cast toward Sakar felt strangely complicated.

Those eyes carried far too many emotions to be ordinary curiosity.

They almost seemed alive...

As though countless thoughts silently passed through them every single time they settled upon the Marshal.

”Wh—”

Althera was just about to turn toward Jabba and finally ask about the meaning behind those strange looks.

Then...

Something else entirely caught the corner of her eye.

Not far from the gate stood someone clad in black-and-blue armor.

That person...

Was looking directly at her.

Straight into her eyes.

A moment later...

He slowly raised his middle finger toward her without the slightest hesitation.

”That filthy little shit!!” Althera shouted the instant she recognized Holakʼs gesture, immediately pointing toward him in disbelief. ”Do you see this?!”

”Hm?” Jabba finally snapped out of his intense concentration and followed her gaze until he noticed Holak as well.

Then he burst into laughter.

”Hahaha! Yeah, donʼt pay too much attention to him. Heʼs just expressing his dissatisfaction over the fact that you ended up taking the very position he has. Knowing him, this is probably his version of staying calm.”

”Expressing it like that?” Althera pointed toward the foot of the mountain once more, completely unable to hide her irritation. ”Heʼs been standing there for days doing that every single time I open my eyes! Iʼm honestly beginning to suspect he never lowers that hand at all!”

”Haha, donʼt worry.” Jabba waved dismissively several times. ”Thatʼs simply Ancestor Holakʼs personality. Heʼll need a little more time before convincing himself that everything happened because of fate... and luck... and not because someone deliberately treated him unfairly.”

”....You teamed up with him against me?!” Althera immediately sprang to her feet, grabbed Jabba by the collar with both hands, and leaned toward him, opening her mouth to continue scolding him, ”Yo—”

Hummm...

At that exact moment...

A golden portal quietly opened nearby.

Robin stepped out from within it with one hand calmly resting behind his back.

Neither hurried nor slow, he walked forward with his usual steady, measured steps until he reached the place where Jabba had been sitting only moments earlier.

Without saying a single word...

He quietly lowered himself into the seat.

Then rested both palms upon his knees.

Only after settling down did his gaze finally drift toward Jabba and Althera.

The lingering coldness upon his face quietly dissolved.

In its place appeared a gentle...

Heavy...

Almost weary smile.

”Hello.”

”....?!”

”....?!”