Chapter 2220: The long breath |
"...Do you think he truly meant what he said?"
"..?" The Executioner Tanoya snapped out of her concentration for a brief moment, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Don’t tell me you are actually planning to obtain that reward."
"Not that..." Robin let out a tired sigh, the exhaustion in his voice impossible to hide anymore. "But that person gave me several missions and never rewarded me with anything. He used me to overturn Universe B-14 and gave me absolutely nothing in return." Then a faint smile slowly appeared on his face despite his miserable condition. "I’m beginning to think I’m nothing more than an unpaid worker." He glanced toward the distance for a moment before continuing, "I’m simply curious about what kind of reward he was referring to..."
"He granted you all those laws, yet you still claim he never rewarded you? Your greed appears rather enormous." Tanoya returned to silently examining her attack plan while speaking. "That entity possesses a very long reach and tremendous influence. Very few beings are capable of gathering THE Court, and he is one of them. If he spoke of a reward, then it is certainly something significant..." Her gaze swept across Robin’s ruined body. "...I can tell you are still merely a Martial Emperor. Perhaps he intends to bring you a suitable Stabilizer."
"A Stabilizer?" Robin narrowed his eyes slightly. "Something material like that... how exactly would I obtain it from a soul shard?"
"It is merely a guess." Tanoya slowly twirled her pointed mace while continuing her analysis. "He already cheated enough by handing you four Master Laws, so what else could even qualify as a reward beyond that? If he truly intends to reward you greatly, then it would most likely be something tangible."
Then she slightly raised her mace.
"Most likely he would send it through an Executioner loyal to deliver it, but considering the distance involved, it would not arrive for several thousand years."
A mocking smile slowly appeared on her face afterward.
"Of course not!" Robin casually waved twice before shaking his head. "I cannot afford to wait that long."
"..?" Tanoya furrowed her brows more deeply this time. "It seems hearing all this information has disturbed your mind somewhat, so allow me to refresh your memory..." Then she slowly began advancing once more. "You are not going to survive long enough to see tomorrow."
"It seems there has been a misunderstanding." Slowly, Robin pulled out a slender spear.
It was a fourth-stage planetary weapon recently obtained by the Shadow Swords through their private trade network before eventually being delivered all the way to the Glass House.
Robin’s eyes gradually stabilized again.
The exhaustion remained.
The weakness remained.
But something inside his gaze became frighteningly steady.
"When I told you that I would take half your life with me if I died..." Robin slowly lifted the spear slightly. "What exactly did you assume I meant by that?"
"...?" Tanoya continued advancing while frowning cautiously.
"I’ll tell you anyway." Robin casually spun the spear once through the void. "In truth, you will not be able to touch me today. If I die, it will be because my body collapses from kicking the crap out of you."
"Oh?" The dark-skinned Executioner’s eyes instantly brightened with killing intent. "Is that a challenge?"
"Interpret it however you wish." Robin slightly raised his head despite the blood staining his face. "You shall not touch me today."
Then his expression darkened further.
"As for taking half your life..." His fingers tightened around the spear. "I also understand perfectly well that I currently cannot wound you deeply enough to inflict an injury of that scale. The level of my laws and my personal energy simply have not reached such a stage yet."
"Good." Tanoya continued walking toward him without slowing down. "At least you understand reality."
"What I meant by taking half your life..." A horrifying killing intent slowly leaked from Robin’s eyes.
It was not ordinary bloodlust.
It was the killing intent of a Conquer Emperor.
A brutal, oppressive will that had trampled countless enemies beneath it.
Even the Executioner’s own murderous aura seemed to weaken before it.
"...is that I will make you wish for death."
The surrounding void itself seemed to grow colder.
"Even if you leave today victorious, you will remember this day for the rest of your life." Robin’s voice became quieter, yet somehow heavier. "You will never again become who you once were before meeting me..." Then his eyes locked onto hers completely. "That is my true promise."
"Bold words." Tanoya finally stopped moving entirely.
"Show me."
Woooosh.
The dark-skinned Executioner vanished instantly.
Her terrifying speed made it appear as though she had merged with the void itself.
Or perhaps that was truly what had happened.
"So the long-range arrow attack ended poorly, and now you intend to approach directly and sever my head with your own hands this time?" Robin chuckled softly despite the condition of his body. "That will not be easy."
Thoom.
The cube rotated around its axis.
Immediately, the surrounding void around Robin began trembling violently.
The darkness convulsed like an enraged ocean.
Waves of distorted emptiness surged endlessly around him.
"What?!" Tanoya was forcibly halted mid-movement, her overwhelming speed no longer usable under such chaotic conditions.
Then she noticed something—
Hoooom.
The enormous eye focused directly upon her.
The pressure descending from that gaze instantly caused her instincts to scream.
A glowing golden point appeared directly at the center of her chest.
Then she saw Robin slowly raising his spear upward with both hands despite the trembling in his body...
And aiming directly toward that point.
"Stop your delusions!!" Tanoya instantly retreated backward in a chaotic zigzag pattern, abandoning all elegance in her movement. Anything connected to that enormous eye was something she instinctively refused to approach.
Even glancing toward it for too long made her soul senses scream warnings.
"Worthless attempts." Robin muttered coldly.
The Gear of Causality rotated once more until it aligned with the broken tooth before releasing the sound of a heavy impact.
Then small patterns emerged from it once again as usual, but this time Robin intentionally translated them using golden energy.
Written within those patterns were the words:
Then Robin thrust his spear toward a completely random direction without aiming whatsoever.
Ksssh.
The energy strike slammed against one of the surrounding spatial-temporal waves and instantly changed direction.
Bam.
Then it crashed through the fin of one of the nearby nascent space beasts, piercing straight through it.
Boof.
Then it shattered a small branch from the Father Tree, causing the trajectory to distort once more.
And then—
"What?!" Tanoya suddenly felt a violent sense of danger erupt within her instincts.
Baaaf.
The spear strike embedded itself directly into the left side of her abdomen, drilling a small hole through it as streams of black blood immediately began pouring outward.
"Damn it!" The dark-skinned Executioner abruptly halted before instantly wiping her hand across the wound, causing the injury to close almost immediately.
"Ah... there you are." Robin finally managed to track her position properly. "You’re truly fortunate. If Causality had merely reached the third degree, the strike would have landed perfectly."
"...Arrogant and delusional, exactly like your master." Fury rapidly spread across Tanoya’s face.
Then she paused momentarily, carefully calculating the movement pattern of the surrounding spatial-temporal waves.
"I want to see your limits!"
Then she charged once again.
"My limits?" Robin smiled faintly.
Thaam.
The scale’s pan tilted heavily, instantly restoring Robin’s energy back to perfection once more.
At the same time, the Gear of Inevitability began spinning rapidly until it emitted the sound of violent impact.
Then golden words emerged from it:
Immediately afterward, Robin sent a thread toward the Ouroboros Ring.
Hoooom.
The serpent began devouring enormous portions of its own tail.
Then something strange began occurring.
Above Robin, vast amounts of energy suddenly gathered together before revolving violently around one another until they formed a miniature sun.
A sun radiating an unusual yellow light that illuminated the surrounding region completely.
"What is this?" Tanoya immediately recognized that light the instant it touched her body.
That was not some imitation.
It was a genuine dwarf star existing somewhere among the universes.
A rare type specialized entirely around producing unbelievably fast rays, rays so swift that almost no creature could outrun them once they entered its detection range.
The rays of that star were faster and more penetrating than spiritual perception itself!
"There you are!" Robin suddenly burst into laughter.
Then his expression abruptly turned cold.
Znnnnnn—
"Arrgh!!" Tanoya abruptly stopped moving after feeling a horrifying piercing pain erupt directly from her forehead.
She immediately raised her hand toward it, only to discover a deep wound that had pierced through skin and flesh before carving directly into the bone itself.
The injury was even deeper than the wound previously carved across her neck.
Tanoya rapidly healed herself before glaring toward Robin furiously.
"You are making your death worse with every passing second!!"
"Hmm... my death?" Robin looked unbelievably exhausted now.
But not merely exhausted.
His body looked thinner and frailer than before, almost skeletal.
Blood continuously flowed from the corner of his mouth.
This no longer resembled ordinary energy exhaustion.
It looked as though his very existence was beginning to collapse.
"I already experienced this once before..." Robin murmured quietly, almost speaking to himself. "I wonder whether it will be the same again this time..."
Then he slowly waved toward the scale.
"Again!"